


Early Reawakening

by Ph03nixs_FicStop



Series: A Different Kind of NG+ [1]
Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Female Persona 3 Protagonist and Male Persona 3 Protagonist are Twins, Gen, NG+ AU, New Game+ AU, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Persona 3 Spoilers, S.E.E.S Narukami Yu, Tartarus (Persona Series), The Dark Hour (Persona Series), The Midnight Channel (Persona 4), The Velvet Room (Persona Series), Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:08:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 44,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25235218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ph03nixs_FicStop/pseuds/Ph03nixs_FicStop
Summary: There's no stranger existence in the world than the presence of the Velvet Room and the inhabitants of it, shown only to chosen Persona users that are dubbed Wild Cards. Those chosen users form a contract to fulfill their obligations as the Wild Card to prevent ruin upon the world, but they do not always succeed. In the case that a Wild Card fails their contract, the world is reset to a "safe period" of time deemed by Philemon, and the contractee is allowed to regain their memories of the past reset when they awaken once again in the reset world. However, an attempted hijacking of the Velvet Room was far different than a Wild Card's failure, and resulted in an automatic, last resort measure left behind by Philemon should it become compromised. In order to prevent corruption of the Velvet Room's power, the world was sent to reset to a time period where Wild Cards users are abundant in numbers, but not yet awakened. The only Wild Card active during this abrupt reset was Yu Narukami and now he's left in this altered world, left with the task to assist both his Wild Card predecessors and successor when the time comes.-Part 1 of an AU series, starting around P3 starring a NG+ but young Yu Narukami.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke & Narukami Yu, Kujikawa Rise & Narukami Yu
Series: A Different Kind of NG+ [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828147
Comments: 94
Kudos: 148
Collections: Quality Persona Fics





	1. Prolouge - It calls Y(o)u

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently unbeta'd.  
>  **-In need of beta readers-**

**Thursday, December 30 th, 2004**

**Narukami Residence**

**Shibuya, Tokyo**

_Bzzzzzz..._

Static. It's all he can hear again tonight, and it's keeping him up as usual. “What time is it now?” He asks himself internally as he glances over at his bedside table, checking his digital clock to confirm.

_Bzzzzzz...._

It's 1 am at night, and he's supposed to be asleep.

_Bzzzzz......_

He wonders if his parents left the TV on downstairs before heading to bed last night. It's not like it would be the first time. They're always so busy that he rarely ever sees them throughout the day and night.

_Bzzzzzz......_

Maybe he should go check on it. If it meant saving his parents the trouble of waking up in the middle of the night, he would do it. It's not like he was asleep anyways...

Taking tentative steps out of his room and into the upstairs hallway, a young silver haired boy feels an uneasiness in his heart, like he's lost something or that something's wrong with him.

The television had always been an anomaly for him, with a yellow-tinted snowing screen and soft static calling to him each night, taunting him to come down and check it out. Sometimes, it only lasts for a few minutes, but other times its lasted up to three hours, three whole hours of its unnerving static call to him.

He's told his parents about the strange beckoning the television urges him about each night, but at this point, it's useless. Every attempt to show them the anomaly ends the same way, where he barely enters the television's line of sight with his parents in tow, and it fades out instantaneously. All they ever see is a black and empty screen with no signs of being on in the first place to the boy's horror. They've just brushed it off as the boy's imagination running wild during the night, but he knows better. The TV only wants him to know of this strange static summons are about.

Tonight, he finally gives into its request for his audience, justifying it under the fact that the new year is arriving soon, and his resolution for the new year is to doze off peacefully each night without hearing static each night. All these nights of an irregular sleep schedule will catch up to him eventually, so it's best to take care of it before it gets that bad... At least, that's what he keeps telling himself.

Arriving at the staircase, he takes a look back to the darkened hallway behind him, then back to the way downstairs to the living room, where the source of this never-ending noise came from. He was going to do this, he must! Whether it was to sate his curiosity or fulfill some sort of hidden purpose inside of him, the television cried out for him and he was finally ready to answer its call. He took a few steps down the staircase, feeling a slight sensation in the back of his head.

"It's nothing." he murmured to himself, trying to reassure himself that he had to endure it only for a little while, if not just too see what this whole situation was about.

He continued to slowly descend down the staircase by a couple of steps more, enough to enter the line of sight of the television. There he sees the haunting yellow screen filled with static snow that encompasses the screen as the sound of white noise saturates the air around him. He trembles, the sensation in his head grows, as if it's anticipating something. Two more steps down the staircase and he sees the TV in full view now, far away and still in the living room area.

~~_"NARUKAMI!"_ ~~

He hears panicked shouts of his name and a growing pain emerges from the earlier sensation in the back of his head. He turns around suddenly, even if he knows there's no one there with him. It sounds familiar, but he can't recall a name or face to align the voice with. He looks back at the TV, and all he sees is the yellow-tinted static staring back at him.

~~_"SENSEI!"_ ~~

This time, he moves one hand off of the staircase's rail to hold his head together, the pain worsening as if his head is splitting in two. Something's wrong. Terribly wrong. He closes his eyes and keeps one hand gripped to the rail as he takes a few steps further down the staircase.

"Keep it together..." The young boy urges to himself, opening one eye to stare back at the unchanging television screen in front of him. He can't stop himself, not anymore. His body feels like it's on autopilot as another wave of pain strikes at the back of his head. He closes his eyes shut again to deal with the anticipated reaction.

The scene before him lasts only a second, but his senses are in overdrive. He feels the fog around him, and it is suffocating to breathe in, but he has to bare it.

A flash of white returns him to the surroundings of his house, right, he's on the staircase. “What's happening to me?” He tries to call out, but his voice lets out nothing but a cry of pain as a second wave rolls in the back of his head. Both of his hands move to grip at his head, an attempt to stabilize the affected area, but it can't. Yu does nothing but brace for the next wave hitting in a moment's notice.

This time, he finally sees something more than just a fragment. It's a memory, but it's one that feels foreign but familiar. He can do nothing but feel and react in silence, his body gasping for air as the memory plays in those few moments:

[There's a fog covering most of the area around him, a fog that shrouds the truth within itself. **Wait, how would he know that?** He sees silhouettes around him, and they look like teenagers in school uniforms. They're more than that, they're his friends. **No. He doesn't recognize any of them.**

One of those silhouettes rush over to him, he's downed and needs help. _“PARTNER! Hang on!”_ The voice calls to him as he summons another figure through a glowing blue flame that engulfs his hand. It's Yosuke, and he's casting a Diarahan to him, he must have been hit bad by Izanami. **What's going on here?** He feels the body he inhabits in this foreign memory stand up with help from the other teen, renergized by the healing, and looks back at the others, silhouettes becoming familiar faces. **Who are they? Who is he?** The body checks itself out before he grips at the fallen katana by his side.

**That's right.** **How could he forget.** He may have been knocked down, but he can't let Izanami win. He would reach out to the truth, even if it was by force. He feels energy pulse through his very soul as a tarot card lays before the waiting hand in front of him, as blue flames engulf it when he crushes it, the sound of cracking glass sounding afterwards as he **feels his other self emerge**.]

“ **I am thou.”**

“Per...” He feels himself whisper in reality, the first few words he's been able to say since he's faced this echoing static. His mind still clouded by the foreign memory playing with his senses, but he feels like he knows what he's doing.

“ **Thou art I”**

“..So..” A hand slowly moves away from gripping at the throbbing sensations filling his head instead to focus out on a growing force it feels falling towards his outreached hand. It's small, but it grows and burns into bright blue flames that engulf the object forming inside.

“ **Thou hast opened thine eyes once more.**

**Reveal thy truths bestowed upon thee and call upon my name.”**

“..Na..” The object forms into a tarot card, the flames burning with a power that is familiar to him, as the hand holding it crushes it, as if it were glass. The card holds the arcana of the fool, his arcana, and the warmth slowly seeps into the fist holding its shards, fading away as Izanagi releases the seal on his forgotten memories. He awakens from the lost memory as the waves of pain return at full force, overwhelming his senses. He can't concentrate on his surroundings, his head filling with questions, as his eyes are staring blankly to the television screen in front of him. He sees the faint form of Izanagi within the static snow filling the screen, the white noise fading from the background as the screen shuts itself off. Izanagi had been able to reach him from the sea of souls, and that realization brought every memory of his past life rushing back at full force.

Everything that came flooding back to him was too much to absorb at that moment, and that split second of clarity in his soul caused the boy stumble and fall. His body crashed against the staircase as the young Yu Narukami slipped into an unconsciousness state, unable to tolerate everything that had happened that moment.

His head ached, and he swore he could feel blood pooling out from the back of his head, all while he was unable to move as he heard frenzied steps from upstairs. It must have been his parents who woke up from the sudden crash to the floor. He barely heard the start of his mother's scream at the sight of him while his father was talking in a hushed voice, likely calling an ambulance on the phone. The last thoughts on his mind as he began to slip away from reality were about how he must have been one terrifying sight to behold for his parents, and that he was sorry they had to witness an unexpected outcome from his reawakening to his Persona but he didn't regret recalling Izanagi once more.

**Thursday, December 30 th, 2004**

**The Velvet Room**

“Welcome to the _Velvet Room_.”

He knew that voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I'm Phoe, and welcome to my first trainwreck of a Persona based fanfiction! This is just the prologue and I'm hoping to update again sometime this week, maybe even tomorrow if I can get Chapter 1 done~!  
>   
> Read below for more context on the AU at hand here:  
> ⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇  
> \- Primary cause of this AU is that in P5, we get the corrupted prison Velvet Room via otherworldly god meddling (spoilers but also not really since it's been out for a while now), and I've seen memes about where Philemon was during this, aka master of the Velvet Room. Since he seems like a hands-off kind of god-presence in the Persona series, so I took some creative liberties and made it so Philemon at least had some kind of security measures in place for the place Wild Cards seek guidance to stop apocalyptic events, since he's a god and knows other gods really like sticking their noses into humanity's business. Besides, we gotta have some sort of explanation for why you can just have NG+'s and keep all your stats and personas! So basically, a normal NG+'s => Velvet Room sends the world back to start of MC's journey, this altered NG+ sent the world back all the way to start of the Dark Hour since P2 and P3 have larger time gaps compared to P3 to P4 to P5.  
> \- Second, why is Yu the protagonist? That's easy, he's my favorite protagonist because Persona 4 the Animation and I now own P4 Golden on my PC legally! (:D) I digress. It made sense to me that since the time of the countermeasure activating is when P5's timeline happens, in 2016, and this countermeasure doesn't allow Akira/Ren to obtain the Wild Card potential and Minato/Minako are already in Door-kun/chan mode, the only one really able to alter time as an initial Wild Card would be Yu. Aigis inherits the Wild Card from Minato/Minako, so she wasn't officially a Wild Card potential candidate.  
> \- Third, why did Yu awaken so young? That's due to the events already happening in the Persona Series timeline, where Mitsuru and Akihiko are already awakened and are hunting shadows. The Dark Hour's happening and since it's an altered reset timeline from unexpected circumstances, his inner self, Izanagi, felt the dangers of the Dark Hour and the need to protect his other self. So, you know what this means, right??? S.E.E.S Yu Narukami. I just want to have him and the twins interact, okay?
> 
> There's just a lot I'm planning and so many scenes and events I'm looking forward to writing, but I gotta build up to it to even write those things, right? 
> 
> Please, leave a review or a kudos if you enjoyed this chapter with hopefully more to come! I appreciate any advice on how to improve, and maybe any offers to be a beta? I don't have any friends that enjoy the persona series enough to read fanfics like this, they more just enjoy the regular canon. And just an extra thanks for checking out this word wall of my ramblings, I'll try to be more brief next time! Just first fanfic jitters. 
> 
> ~Phoe out!~


	2. A Clearer Picture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yu finally gets some answers and experiences something new for him in this timeline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently unbeta'd.  
>  **-In need of beta readers-**

**Thursday, December 30 th, 2004**

**The Velvet Room**

“Welcome to the Velvet Room.”

He knew that voice.

“This realm exists between mind and matter. It separates dreams and reality.”

Yu Narukami mustered the strength from his previously unconscious state to open his eyes and gaze at the familiar place before him. It was the Velvet Room, HIS Velvet Room. The very sight of the limousine-like room filled him with a sense of clarity.

Looking before him, he took notice that Igor and Margaret were patiently awaiting for him to get his bearings in order. Igor looking as mysterious as he remembered behind that grinning expression of his, while Margaret stared back at him with a mixed expression filled with concern and nostalgia. Seems they might have some answers for him for what's going on.

If he remembered correctly, he hadn't visited the Velvet Room since 2012, after the murder case was solved fully and the fog lifted in Inaba. He even got to say his farewells to the residents of the Velvet Room before he left Inaba, keeping the Velvet Room key as a keepsake, but never saw the doorway inside afterwards. Now that he thought about it, while he never saw the Velvet Room again after that. The residents of it were still active outside of its existance, as he remembered coming into contact with Margaret during the P-1 Climax tournament and even the little sister she had mentioned in the P-1 Grand Prix, though both encounters were brief.

Yu shook his head to clear his head, he'd keep those thoughts for later. Right now he had to speak to Igor about what was going on. He looked back to the Velvet Room residents, ready to listen and question the circumstances they were in now, Igor returning his determined expression with a slight nod as he began.

“It would seem that fate has changed your destiny into something most peculiar.” The long-nosed man starts before chuckling to himself quietly. “As you may recall, I am Igor, and this is my assistant, Margaret...I am delighted to make your acquaintance once again.”

Margaret takes her cue to speak and looks towards Yu, returning back a familiar poised expression. “Dear guest, you have answered the call of your inner self, your persona, and have awakened once more to take on a journey of truth and mystery. My master and I will be here to accompany you on your travels and assist you on your new journey.”

The Velvet Room Attendant looks to the book on her lap before opening _Le Compendium_ , releasing the tarot cards of the arcanas inside of it, but is surprised to find that they are all blank but for the one in the middle, **The Fool**. After that she looks rather perplexed, and quickly scans through the pages to confirm before looking back to Yu. “While all the persona you had registered in the compendium are all accounted for, you cannot summon them until you have re-established all your social links affiliated to them...” Margaret stated, letting out a quiet sigh before returning to a relaxed expression with a small smile gracing her face. “...But I am sure you will not struggle to restore those bonds and deepen their connections once again.”

Yu is relieved to know that at least the Velvet Room residents remembered him, but he needed to know what was going on. “Igor, you mentioned that fate has changed my destiny, but can I ask if you know how this happened?” He questioned before pouting to himself as everything, from his voice to his stature felt off. At this point, he was barely readjusting to his current body again compared to the body he lived in for those moments in his subconscious during his memory relapses.

“While this is a rather peculiar situation we all find ourselves in, the cause of this altered reality is a security measure, one put in place by the master of the Velvet Room.” Igor closes his eyes, a slight frown visible on his face, his eyebrows furrowing as he's deep in thought. “I would have never imagined it would ever come to fruition and activate...” He adds quietly before looking back at Yu and adjusts his position slightly as he begins to explain, amused at the boy's bewilderment hearing that there is a master above Igor.

“Y-Your master?” Yu questions carefully before receiving a nod of confirmation from the long-nosed man himself.

“My master favors humanity and wagers that mankind can become enlightened beings by the strength in their own hearts. The Velvet Room was created in order to guide those who are capable of proving that sentiment, to guide those who will lead the world away from ruin. I may be the proprietor of the Velvet Room, but I am a servant of Philemon above all.” Igor explains calmly before grinning to himself. “To the guests before you, I would introduce myself as such, but my master entrusted this space to me quite some time ago. Thus, I am just Igor, proprietor of the Velvet Room.”

Yu took a few moments to fully absorb the information. It was odd knowing that there's a being out there stronger than Igor... Strong enough to have made the Velvet Room, bring to life someone who can access the sea of souls and guide Wild Cards like himself away from the ruin of mankind. This was far beyond him, and that brought up a bigger question, why had he been involved in this countermeasure in the first place?

“This countermeasure is to protect the Velvet Room, right? Can I ask about the specifics of it, and how I am involved with it?” He inquired, lacing his tone with a hint of concern.

The trade of looks the proprietor and attendant of the Velvet Room gave to each other held secrecy in them, but this would be the only guest they would be able to assist for some time before the twin Wild Cards signed their contracts. They would have to relinquish some information to him if they wished to **truly** assist him.

Margaret started first by clearing her throat before speaking once more. “There are cases where our guests are unable to fully complete the contract. In those cases, we as residents of the Velvet Room are able to alter time to a period of time that Master Philemon deems doable. That temporal alteration allows for the guest in question to return to that point and carry out any missing conditions of the contract.” She explains before smiling softly. “It seems that you had unknowingly interacted with Master Philemon during your own journey dear guest. It's likely they had prepared periods in time for you should the need for this power arise during your journey.”

Igor nods and looks to Narukami, then to the outside of the Velvet Room. “This security measure my master put into place is an extension of that power. It was to alter time to a point that was deemed safe to travel to in the case the Velvet Room was being occupied by someone other than my attendants or I, someone who had malicious intent on misusing the power of this space...” He finished before frowning to himself. “However, I cannot recall who may have entered the room or what they might have done in order to activate it...”

Margaret bites at her lip a bit, only stopping when concerned gray eyes take notice of her action. Yu can only guess that she may want to add something, but he'll ask another time.

Igor looks back from the foggy outside to view the desk in front of him, summoning the tarot deck. From there, he draws four cards of **The Fool** arcana, surprising himself before he looks over to the young Wild Card in front of him and gives him a mysterious but proud grin. “I can see why my master chose this time... The world at this point is abundant with potential of several Wild Cards. You are the first to awaken to this potential because you were the only active Wild Card at the time the abnormal time complication occurred.”

His gray eyes widened with surprise. On one hand, Yu was beginning to accept the explanation Igor and Margaret gave to him about his being here. However, there was the unspoken mention of 3 other Wild Cards out there right now that were not there in the original timeline. Was he was really the only Wild Card that still held his abilities when everything happened? He shuddered at the thought of it, meaning something either locked the prior Wild Cards' abilities or...worst.

“It seems our time here tonight is coming to a close...”

The young boy tensed at Igor's words. Yu wasn't ready to leave, not yet!

“Until our paths cross again...” Margaret added to her master's words before giving Yu one last piece of advice. “...and please tread carefully tonight when you awaken dear guest. There is far more than the world of the Collective Unconscious than the Midnight Channel you are accustomed too...”

Yu Narukami did not process her warning fully before his eyelids began to feel heavy and his vision became blurry, signaling that their time was really up. With the realm of the Velvet Room fading away, he succumb to the coming darkness surrounding him.

**Friday, December 31 st, 2004**

**Sanno Medical Center**

**Minato City, Tokyo**

“ _-ep...beep....beep....beep....beep..._ ”

He could hear something. It certainly wasn't the sound of static or noise of the city he's accustomed to at his house, nor was it the calming song of the Velvet Room. This was somewhere else.

Yu Narukami slowly let his eyelids flutter open and began to move his body slightly in order to get used to the real world again. As his vision was returning to normal, he managed to spot a heart rate monitor near the corner of his eyes. The boy tried to move but felt a slight tug at one of his arms. He was curious now, and adjusted his position to get one hand to rub his eyes to re-focus his vision. As his view of the world slowly sharpened, he looked back down on his other arm. There was something injected to the underside of his elbow with a small layer of medical tape covering it, but it looked loose enough that he could tug it out with some pressure.

“An IV?” The silver-haired boy murmured to himself quietly. He pushed up against the bed carefully to get a better view of it before confirming that it was an IV. By following the tube from his arm, the IV led over to a metal rod holding a bag of fluids high above his head, and to the side of the bed he was in currently.

He glanced down at himself, and noticed he wasn't in the pajamas he had worn when Izanagi awoke him that night. Currently, Yu found himself in some hospital scrubs designed for someone his age, and with bandage wraps across his head. He felt around the bandage wraps slowly before wincing as his hand barely poked against the wrappings set around the back of his head. It was likely his wound was still tender.

“A hospital. My parents took me to a hospital. Nice to know they care enough to bring me to one when I was in need...” The boy hummed before looking to the other side of the room, where the window gave a clear visual of the city's late night skyline.

“...but it wasn't enough to even get them to stay here for the **night**.” Yu stated coldly with his gray eyes filling with disappointment as he gave one last glance around the empty room, chairs without a sign of activity from earlier nor anyone waiting at his bedside for him. With that, Yu Narukami accepted that he would be on his own this time around as well.

By shifting his body to an upright sitting position on the bed, he began reaching his IV-free arm around the side of his bed in order feel around it. This was mainly to get a better understanding about his current surroundings, and for any information that could help him pinpoint his condition and the date. His efforts were rewarded as his hand stumbled across a clipboard hanging onto the side of the hospital bed.

“ _You're mine_.” Yu hummed to himself in delight as he fished the clipboard from the bedside and onto his lap, a grin growing on his face. This was much more than what he expected to find! There was the problem of how dimly lit the hospital room was, but he could use the light from the heart rate monitor to at least make out the words.

Judging by the few pages that were held down by the clipboard, he guessed this was likely his medical chart made for this visit to the hospital. He skipped a majority of the first page because it only documented his name, demographic information, his vital signs when he had been admitted, and his medical history. Once Yu reached the second page that was labeled as his medical encounters, he felt hopeful that this page had enough about what happened while he was in the realm of the Velvet Room.

Going through the page, he kept an eye out for two specific sections in the medical encounters pages, one about chief complaints, the other being progress notes. Once Yu spotted the chief complaints section about halfway through the second page, it looks like the hospital had admitted him for head trauma and a severe concussion. Skimming through the third and fourth page, he managed to spot the progress notes section, where various doctors and nurses had documented his progress throughout the day. Yu felt his eyes widen in shock when he noticed how long he had been out for by comparing the date of the admission to the most recent progress note a nurse had signed off on just a few minutes before he woke up.

“A **day**. I've been out for a day or longer.” He muttered quietly before he set the clipboard back to the side and flopped back to the bed. Yu didn't even want to think about how time flowed in the Velvet Room compared to reality, but now he appreciated Igor's invitation to the strange realm considering how much time passed and he'd rather get answers than remain unconscious and be alone with his thoughts without explanation onto what happened. Sighing, he thought back to that last time posted on the progress notes.

“It was 11:56 pm when they finished checking on me and my current condition.” Yu started as he glanced out at the window outside, watching the vibrant city below celebrate the upcoming year. Judging by the synchronized and excited shouts of a countdown outside, that were luckily softened by how high the building he was staying in was, it just about time.

“The new year should be starting soon...” The time interloper said with a sigh, looking out the window with worry. “It'll be a long way til 2011, a long time until I get to go _home_ to the place I belong to, with my friends and family.” he hummed before holding a hand out to the bright full moon hanging in night skies.

“Just wait for me everyone.” Yu Narukami finished as he smiled warmly and closed his eyes for a few moments, his mind drawing back to the memories he made in Inaba and onward with the Investigation Team, as the muted cries of the countdown came to a close.

“ _ **..3!”**_

“ _ **...2!”**_

“ _ **....1!”**_

The world became still and silent.

The starry night sky changed from bright blue and purple hues into a sickly green.

The moon began to bleed.

Yu Narukami opened his eyes from touching moments of his memories to re-enter this new reality when he didn't hear the beeps of the heart rate monitor anymore. Something was wrong. He could feel Izanagi stirring within his soul, trying to get him away from danger, but where? It didn't take too long before he realized why his Persona was trying to protect him at the moment once he glanced out the window, observing the phenomenon new to him. His heart raced as he gasped in fear at the sight outside and the sudden changes in the environment around him. This wasn't normal.

“What's going on?” He thought to himself before seeing something out of the corner of his eyes. His gray eyes were drawn to a form building itself up from a black and red goop seeping from the floor, changing into something he hadn't imagined he'd run into while he was in the real world.

With that being the final shock to his very core, Yu pulled the IV out of his arm and bolted out from the hospital room and into the green and red filled hallway. He was trying to run as fast and far as his body could take him. He needed a place to hide or escape, anything to deal with this living nightmare.

Yu Narukami found himself in something he had never experienced nor remembered in the last timeline, the **Dark Hour**.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I TAKE THE PERSONA CANON, AND I PUT IT INTO A BLENDER!" -Phoe, 2020
> 
> Hehehe~! Did you guys expect me to bring in the Dark Hour so soon?
> 
> Anyways, I managed to make a longer chapter this time for you guys! Nearly 3k words with this chapter. I'm honestly proud of myself. I initially planned on cutting it off after the Velvet Room scene, but I wanted exposition out of the way so we'd could start some of the fun parts I planned for this AU~ Also, thank you very much for 100+ hits on this fic! You guys are awesome!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy what's coming up next chapter, and let me know what you guys think of this fic so far with reviews and kudos!
> 
> ~Til next chapter everyone, Phoe out~


	3. Escape the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yu experiences the Dark Hour for the first time, and he's not a fan of what it entails. He'd take the Midnight Channel over this any day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently unbeta'd.  
>  **-In need of beta readers-**

**Friday, December 31 st, 2004**

**Sanno Medical Center**

**Minato City, Tokyo**

He ran.

Yu Narukami ran away from the shadows that had appeared in the real world, right as the power went off and the world felt like it had gone still. All the memories of the past, and he can barely recall anything like this happening “ _This...this isn't right!_ ” He thought to himself as he ran through the mostly empty hospital hallway.

After taking a sharp left to avoid an onslaught of shadows gathering in the main hallway, Yu examined the new hallway he was in. There was a janitor's closet left open, with a coffin in the doorway of it to keep it open, and a ring of keys abandoned on the ground. With that, the young Wild Card took his chances by tip-toeing across the hall, to avoid detection by any shadows further up in the hallway. At the door, he gave the coffin a slight push to be propped up against the wall rather than the door, then grasped the keys in a tight and careful manner to avoid them from jingling and alerting any shadows of his movement. Once the keys were secured and the door was freed from the coffin, he shut the door slowly, leaving only a crack of it open in the case he had to escape.

Feeling safe for the moment, Yu let out a gasp of breath, one he hadn't realized he was holding that entire time. After that, he kept his breathes quiet in hopes of not attracting more attention to the closet when there was already a giant coffin right next to it. He had a chance to finally gather his thoughts.

“ _There are shadows out right now, the power's out, and there are coffins scattered around... Not much I can do regarding calling for help. I have to rely on my experience for now._ ” He thought to himself as he felt around the utility closet for something, anything to defend himself with. With what he could feel from the various items stored inside, there were mops and brooms lying against the corners of the room, and he pulled one out that had a metal rod. “ _This should work._ ” He hummed quietly with a slight grin, as he rotated it to the end the broom head was screwed onto and began to unscrew it. Once the head was loose, he placed it onto the ground of the closet and peered through the crack in the door. The coast was clear for now, but with his luck, it wouldn't stay that way forever. A shadow was bound to find him, and considering he had sprinted from his hospital bed after just being unconscious, he was running on fumes. Rather than facing the shadows head on as he had done before in the Midnight Channel, Yu would have to be stealthy.

Taking a final peek through the crack in the door and confirming there were no nearby shadows for the moment, Yu took the chance to push the door open lightly and leave the janitor's closet. Slipping past two shadows roaming farther in the hallway, he swiftly maneuvered back to the larger hallway, all in hopes to find the main lobby.

Walking forward with his fear of this new shadow-filled period filling his heart with dread, it only took quiet reassurance from Izanagi to remind him he wasn't alone. His other self was with him now, and that reminder that he was complete again gave him the strength to keep moving forward and survive this nightmarish night.

Yu continued to roam around the large hallway until he spotted a directory. His expression brightened as he ran towards it, rubbing away some of the oozing red liquid that covered up areas on the map. “ _Looks like this hallway will split into two soon. I've got to go right if I want to reach the lobby, or I'll end up in the cafeteria with a bunch of shadows waiting for me... Izanagi, warn me when we reach the crossroads ._ ” He thought after examining the directory with a hum of acknowledgment resounding from the depths of his soul. His Persona would do his best to keep him out of trouble.

As the Wild Card ventured further into the hallway, he was forewarned to the presence of nearby shadows from his other self. Izanagi could utilize some of his abilities out in this strange instance of the world around him, and it made Yu curious. “ _Could I summon him?_ ” He thought for a moment before shaking his head, brushing his silver hair out of his eyes as he moved forward. “ _No. Even if I can, it should be a last resort. Persona summoning would agitate more shadows if they're anything like the ones of the Midnight Channel._ ” He reasoned with himself before he felt a tug from his soul. It was Izanagi.

The boy was surprised for a moment before taking in the hallway division before him. Right. Yu had asked for a heads-up for when they reached the end of the hallway to head to the lobby. Muttering a quiet thanks to his Persona, he rushed down over to the right hallway entrance, relieved. As he entered the new hallway, he could see the hospital lobby come into view, a large TV waiting in the distance.

The world of the Midnight Channel would be his escape route, as the TV world required a TV to be off to activate and show the other side. Even then, hoping into inactive TVs to enter the Midnight Channel was never a problem, not for him and the Investigation Team, nor the criminals that had used them to throw them in. Seeing that TV gave Yu hope that he'd be able to escape this terrifying ordeal.

Thinking about the possibility of escape distracted the Wild Card. It wasn't too long before another sensation came from his other self, this time a warning. The warning came too late as Yu neared the end of the corridor, and came face-to-face with the final stretch to the lobby, filled with shadows. His fearful gasp alerted them to his presence, as the masks of shadow turned from various direction to face him, the blobs of darkness changing forms in order to attack. He could recognize a couple of them that formed like the Obsessed Cupids, Trance Twins, Bronze Dice, and Lying Hablerie, and others he couldn't. Even if he recognized them, it didn't matter. There were too many of them, and they were closing in on him. Yu gripped at the metal rod, his knuckles becoming white from how tight he was holding it, but that didn't steady him. He could feel his body shaking in fear, the warmth of Izanagi's power fading as chills ran through his body, doubts clouding his mind, and his legs locking in on themselves from fright.

“I-I'm going to die...” He stated to himself as his eyes burned, tears forming in his gray eyes, no longer to focus on his Persona's attempts to call to him.

He felt pathetic, he was sent to the past in order to help fellow Wild Cards and solve the mystery of the Velvet Room's attempted corruption, but he wouldn't even be able to live more than a week because of this nightmare. “Igor. Margaret. **I'm sorry**.” He whispered to the wind as he shut his eyes, preparing for the worst as he could hear a shadow jumping on him, bracing for impact. His other self had enough, as a loud voice boomed in his mind.

“ **I am thou. Thou art I.”**

It felt like time froze.

“ **Open thy eyes.”**

He could feel power coursing through _him_ , blue flames circling around him.

“ **Call forth what is within, young Wild Card.** ”

Yu Narukami could feel Izanagi sparking to life from the depths of his soul, roaring out to be released. That's right...now was not the time to cower, it was time to fight.

“ _PERSONA!”_

The sound of cracking glass resonated with the air around them, the blue flames bursting out in a spiral motion, pushing back the incoming shadows. Yu's eyes were glowing a brilliant yellow as his persona was unleashed, electricity crackling in the air around the two. Gone were the fears of death, and instead the boy was filled with the determination to live and escape these odds.

Yu Narukami was reborn into this world to help it, he just needed to remember he wasn't alone, his friends were out there and his other self would stay by his side, and he needed to fight until they met again. He gripped at the metal rod he currently held as weapon, and swung with the ferocity he would use with the katanas he fought with in the past, the impact breaking the physical form of a Cowardly Maya.

Now that he had their attention, Yu grinned as he readied to rush through the crowds of shadows filling the hall, stance changing to one ready to rush across. “Out of OUR way!” The Wild Card shouted from the top of his lungs as he began to run, Izanagi positioning himself in front of his user.

His thoughts resonated with his Persona's once more, in sync with each other, as Izanagi let loose strikes of electricity in the form of Zio spells, downing various shadows and damaging others. Those that stood in front of Yu were subjected to a similar fate, either slashed to the side by the Persona he commanded, or dealt with personally with the Zio-charged rod weapon he wielded. The devastating attacks the two dealt was a strategic maneuver, as their aim was to clear a path in front of them and keep shadows at a distance, until he could reach the TV.

He could feel both his and Izanagi's stamina wearing down, but with his persona's reminder earlier, his resolve remained strong. Managing to push away the last shadow to create a somewhat-clear pathway across to the television, he ran forward as Izanagi grabbed hold of his user's body to launch him across. It was a straight shot. Once his persona no longer held any part of his user from the catapulting action, Yu recalled him to the safety of his soul to prevent further injuries from the shadow mob behind him, feeling the immense power of his Persona fade from reality, his own eyes returning to their warm shade of gray.

The boy landed right in front of a large television set-up in the main lobby and hurried to stand up and enter it. By touching the screen and seeing it ripple against his touch in real time, a smile grew on Yu's face, moving to enter the screen. The familiar sensations of entering the TV world hit him as the shadows closing in on him attempted to pull him out. One Merciless Maya gripped at his ankle in an attempt to drag him out, but that action was returned to a swift strike against it's mask, cracking it and allowing Yu Narukami to fully submerge to the Midnight Channel's gateway entrance.

**Friday, December 31 st, 2004**

**Midnight Channel**

**Tokyo**

The landing was just as rough as he remembered it...or it could just be that everything hurts right now because he overextended himself in a fight for his life. Whatever the case, he was in pain.

Moving to sit up from the ground of the TV world, Yu noticed something felt off about the place. There was little to no fog surrounding the area, and his mind felt just as clear as it did before he had hopped in from the real world. No fog and not feeling ill without needing glasses? This wasn't like anything he remembered...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, I'd like to apologize that this chapter took so long. I was stuck for a while on how I'd get Yu to maneuver the Dark Hour on his own for the first time. He's terrified by both physical and mental responses, because he's physically 10-11 and mentally he has only faced the challenges of the Midnight Channel before and that was with the Investigation Team. He's alone, only one Persona at his call, and has a makeshift weapon at most.
> 
> His method of escape is something I'm looking forward to utilizing as the story progresses, since we only get canonical mentions of TV world existing before the events of P4. I'm taking it as it was an okay place before Izanami interfered, like a proto-Mementos. I'll go into more detail in further chapters.
> 
> Apologies that this chapter is shorter than last, but I'm exhausted right now. Thanks again for the 300+ hit and kudos everyone! Let me know what you guys think of this chapter or the story so far with reviews and kudos!
> 
> ~Til next chapter everyone, Phoe out~


	4. A Midnight Hideout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yu manages to find some sense of safety in a familiar TV World of the human conscious, but finds that it's not the same as before... It feels more alive than before, but he's not as alone as he thought he'd be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently unbeta'd.  
>  **-In need of beta readers-**

**Friday, December 31 st, 2004**

**Midnight Channel**

**Tokyo**

Yu Narukami was sure he had entered the TV World properly, that's why there weren't any shadows currently attacking at him. He could feel Izanagi's presence more than he had before while he was still in the real world, both when it was normal and when it had changed to that sinister atmosphere. It was like a glass wall between them had broken, and communication between the Persona and its user was instantaneous.

The young Wild Card looked forward and rubbed his eyes to fully take in the new surroundings. He was definitely right about the Midnight Channel being different. The yellow-tinted sky mimicked one of the real world with how bright the world seemed to feel, but lacked the warmth of the sun. Rather than clouds hanging in the atmosphere, there seemed to be clusters of white static sparking in and out of the sky. In other areas of the skyline, he swore he could there were floating islands drifting about. Where he had landed seemed to be a crystal clear lake, and he landed on a small hill sitting in a part of it, with other similar hills spaced out around the lake. The strangest thing here had to be the structures around him, some of them being white marble columns with greenery wrapped around them, a large tablet of marble laid out in front of an altar, and then the arches leading into the tablet and altar.

“This...is different than usual..” He murmured quietly as he took in the new surroundings. Last he saw the TV World resemble anything like this was after Izanami was dealt with in the aftermath of their battle with her, when he had shown her the willpower of humanity with Izanagi-No-Okami. Even then, it had been a forest they had seen beyond the horizon of the saved Midnight Channel, not something like this. This felt unworldly. “ _Maybe this is what Teddie meant by the TV World being peaceful before the fog.._ ” He thought to himself as he stood up and began to walk around the strange altar area.

Behind the main altar of the hilly area he landed into, there was another marble structure, this time being a gazebo that housed a marble statue inside. Being curious, Yu walked over to get a better look at it. The statue itself matched the marble theme going around, it being a full-body statue of a woman holding a staff, thankfully clothed, and very detailed from the fringes on the cloth of the dress, to the strains of hair styled to a ponytail held back by a laurel headdress sitting upon the statue's head. Upon closer examination, cracks in it were filled with gold, making it stand out inside the gazebo, and the staff itself being made of gold. The staff the statue held was about half but from the middle to the tip, two snakes encircled it, while wings sprouted from the top, with a yellow gem embedded at the rounded tip end of the staff.

The Wild Card admired it for its beauty before moving away to survey the rest of the hill he landed upon. Izanagi did not sense any hostiles around, so he was free to move about for the time being. “I should at least find a place to rest... It doesn't seem like I'll get sick here since I managed to come in with a Persona.” He mumbled to himself as he set out to see about reaching the clearing outside of the lake. At least, that was his plan until he noticed movement from the corner of his eye.

Momentarily stunned, Yu took a step back and whipped himself around to check the surroundings behind him. A quick scan of his surroundings proved nothing was around, so he moved to face forward, but as soon as he turned to his prior position, the statue was now in front of him! It spooked him enough that he stepped back suddenly and tripped on his own feet. He fell backwards onto one of the nearby marble columns, hurting the left side of his back. With a reminder of how easy it was to get injured as a child, Yu felt dizzy as his vision and hearing became a bit disoriented from the sudden shock of pain, unaware of that the statue had moved closer to him.

“.. _r_ e...o _u_....k _a_ y?”

Someone was trying to talk to him, but who else was around? The boy tried to stabilize himself against the marble pillar to let the world stop spinning and hopefully let his ears stop ringing so he could actually concentrate. He moved a hand to his head to rub near the bandages around his head, feeling a slight sting. Yup, the wound was still tender. In fact, he had scratches and bruises over him from earlier as he took a closer look at the arm rubbing his head, and that was not going to be fun to explain when he returned home....after finding an exit out of course.

As his vision and hearing returned, Yu finally took notice of who, or rather what, was fretting over him. It had been the statue he examined earlier! Though, the statue was very animated in its frantic actions and speech patterns compared to how still and lifeless it had seemed earlier in the gazebo. Izanagi wasn't warning him of any malicious intent, and the statue itself seemed to be panicked over him, so it should be alright to interact with it, if only just to get some answers about the Midnight Channel of the past.

“..Excuse me..” Yu started quietly, trying to get its attention, looking up at it, trying to hide his pained expression from his injuries. Luckily, it worked as the statue looked at him, face-to-face. The statue's eyes were filled with gold like the cracks around its body, but the facial expressions and body gestures made it look alive.

“.A-A human child..?” It started quietly, as it moved a hand to place over Yu's head, right where the bandages were wrapped around his head in the front. It then pouted, as if it was upset. “You're injured... My apologies for frightening you, but I've never seen a human up close before. No human has ever entered this world to my knowledge..” It continues, before their last statement trails off quietly, before pulling their hand back to hold onto the gold staff of theirs, both marbled hands gripping onto it.

“Please allow me to ease your pains.” It starts before holding their staff out and closing their golden eyes. “Heed my call.” The statue starts as a familiar blue tarot card forms above the held out staff, with the Temperance arcana.

“ **Epione**.”

That was all the tarot card needed as it shattered like glass and the transparent figure of a Persona appeared behind the statue, awaiting command from the statue. Yu was in shock from watching the entire spectacle unfolding in front of him that he didn't notice the recent scrapes and bruises from his run-in with shadows were fading away from the warm healing of Dia being cast upon him. He snapped out of his shocked stupor when he realized the pain from hitting his back against the marble column had faded away, then looked up at the statue with a determined expression, who had just dismissed their Persona. “Apologies that I cannot heal any further, your body cannot take in so much at one time.” they apologize quietly, looking a little embarrassed by bringing a hand to their cheek.

Normally, Yu would be able to keep the calm and cool demeanor he was known for in the last timeline, but he was currently a child and it was hard for him to hide his absolute surprise from this predicament. “Y-You have a Persona!” He exclaimed before covering his mouth and flushing in embarrassment. He hadn't meant to be so loud. The boy took a few deep breathes to calm down then cleared his throat to avoid his voice from cracking before he started to speak again. “Sorry... I don't mean to be rude when you've just helped me, but who are you and how did you receive a persona?” He asked softly, looking at the strange being in front of them.

The statue looked at the boy for a few moments before beginning to laugh warmly. “I do not mean to laugh, nor I cannot blame a human like yourself for being curious. It will take a bit of time to explain, so let us move somewhere a bit more comfortable.” They stated after their fit of laughter, moving to offer a hand to Yu. He tentatively took it, and was led back over to the gazebo. Once there, they both took a seat inside as the statue began to explain.

“I am what you would call a shadow. This world mirrors your own in a sense, as shadows are born from the repressed emotions and feelings of humans. Locations like this are also influenced by the perceptions of humans on the other side.” They continue, occasionally gesturing to themselves or the area around the two of them. They do not account for Yu's prior knowledge of the Midnight Channel, and are a bit stunned by the boy's neutral expression for the beginning of their explanation.

“ _It would make sense that they're a shadow. After all, Teddie was a shadow, but there are more of them like him?_ ” The Wild Card thought before looking back up to the statue shadow and gave a soft nod. “If it's alright with you, can you tell me what makes you different from other shadows? I was being chased by some shadows before coming here, but you don't look anything like them and you aren't attacking me.” He requests for further information. It's better he figures out how shadows like this one form. Maybe he could even meet Teddie earlier this time around and help him _act_ more human to stand out less in public!

“I call myself Medi, while my Persona's name is Epione. I...became Medi when I began to craft a sense of self from the emotions and feelings that made up my form. My Persona came to me when I accepted that I am a shadow made from the feelings of loss, grief, and regret from the world that makes up this one, but swore to heal those that stumble upon this area in search of a safe haven.” Medi stated with a sense of pride before gazing out at the crystal-clear lake stretching out in front of them. “This place is apart of a series of formations in this world called the Springs of Life. They mirror a place that's perceived as ' _a place of recovery'_ in your world. I tend to this particular spring by helping shadows that are developing their own sense of self here.” They finish as they continue to gaze out to the beautiful but empty lake and hills, their expression becoming a bit distant for a moment. “However, there have been fewer shadows for some time now, but I never would I have imagined a human would stumble here, or much less get the chance to converse with one!” Medi hums in delight as they smile warmly to him. “You've helped bring some hope to this solitary shadow, I thank you. If I can help you in any other way, please let me know, little human.”

From the smile and offer of assistance Medi gave him, Yu felt himself blush lightly, a touch shy about the sudden attention. “..your welcome..” He responds quietly before an idea comes to mind. “Do you know if there are any exits out of here? I need to get back to my world as soon as possible.” He asks with the best doe eyes he can muster, trying to channel an inner cuteness that he remembers falling for every time Nanako asked something of him. It works, as Medi looks with sympathy and worry over seeing the young Wild Card in distress. Internally, he can feel Izanagi roll his eyes, but it seems Yu was learning the ways of cute by remembering Nanako.

“A developed enough shadow should be able to conjure one for a one-time use, but I never done so because there's never been a need.” The statue says, thinking out loud near the end of their comment, pondering over how to exactly summon one. They're like that for a while before they get an idea and shout in excitement with a bright grin. “Please allow me some time to practice creating some as tests before sending you back. While you wait, you can explore or rest at your leisure.” Medi offers, moving to have both hands holding the rod once again, mostly still but some shakiness is detected, likely because they're anxiously waiting on an answer from him.

Yu knows that he'll say yes, but takes a few moments to think about the possibilities he has at the moment. He is curious about how the TV World was different than the one he knew, so it would be interesting to explore. There's also the passage of time being altered here compared to the real world, where it could feel like he and the Investigation Team would be in the TV for over a day to explore a dungeon, but only a few hours would have passed when they return. With those two points, he looked over to Medi and nodded. “If it's alright with you, I would appreciate that.” He answers with a slight bow in respect, as the statue claps in delight, rod held in one hand for that gesture.

“Excellent! I'll remain nearby while I'm working, but do as you please in the meantime. I will alert you when I am done, little one!” Medi cheers as they pat his head before walking off to practice making the exit out as Yu flushes at the nickname, walking away to go explore. He didn't see himself as that little, considering he's 10 at least! Then again, he was biased since he wasn't as young as Nanako was when he first met her, but his birthday was another six months away and this was the shadow's first time meeting a human. “I'll let it slide.” He thinks to himself with a pout on his face as he steps forward into the water to explore the lake and nearby hills in this _Spring of Life_ , suddenly glad he was only wearing the medical gown made for patients and not a full outfit as the water seeped through the fabric, causing his face to burn with internal embarrassment.

**Saturday, January 1 st, 2005**

**Midnight Channel**

**Tokyo**

“...ttle one!..Little one, please awaken!”

Yu groans as he sits up from the marble tablet he had dozed off on, murmuring a quiet “five more minutes..”. One hand assists in helping him sit up, while the other rubs at his eyes to try and wake up. Once his sight adjusted back to the surroundings around him, he stretched to get warmed up for the day ahead of him, then hopped off the marble surface, grabbed the items he had found while exploring yesterday, and then look up to face the awaiting statue shadow calling for him.

“After many attempts, I've successfully created an exit way out of this world back to your own.” They stated in glee before gesturing to the gateway in question, different from Teddie's usual exit TVs, as it looked more like a magic mirror from fantasy novels, but it did match the environment this shadow lived in. Medi looks proud at the gateway's completion, and rightly so since they managed to do it in record time. If the boy had to guess, he'd probably be back at the hospital around the early morning, completely bypassing the hellish landscape that overtook the world at midnight, and maybe no one would notice he had gone missing.

Yu takes a few steps forward before moving to hug the marble statue shadow tightly in appreciation. It took Medi a few moments to understand the gesture until recognizing as a form of affection between humans like they had seen before from the mirror pools in the lake, then happily returned it in a gentle manner in order to not harm the boy. They finish and step away from each other when Yu removes his hands, as he gives them a warm smile filled with sincerity.

“Thank you Medi. I wouldn't be heading home without your help.”

If the shadow could blush, they would be doing so right now, as their hands were covering their cheeks as they swayed side-to-side a bit. “If we are giving our final goodbyes, I'd like to thank you for bringing some hope to this lonesome statue. No one has come in so long, so it was nice to assist another soul in need of help, to feel needed again.” Medi hums happily before moving one hand from their cheek to reach for their staff, pulling off the jewel embedded at the top of it and holding out to Yu. He was shocked for the sudden gift and looked up at Medi, looking for confirmation to take the jewel, and received a nod before they placed the jewel onto his small pile of loot that he held in his hands.

“Please, take it, if not for you, for my own sake. May it help you on your travels.” They stated with a firm expression before Yu relents with a sign before he returns a soft smile back to them, pulling his hands back to his chest to keep a tight hold on his loot.

The Wild Card steps forward to the mirror-like gateway Medi crafted for him, gives one final smile to them, then steps through. He knows he was in good hands once he feels the familiar sensation of falling overtaking him, letting the familiar sensation of the TV run through him, ensuring to him that he's leaving properly.

**Saturday, January 1 st, 2005**

**Sanno Medical Center**

**Minato City, Tokyo**

When he opens his eyes, he finds himself back in the main lobby he had entered from. Taking his first step back from the TV, then proceeding to trip over, he notices the lights are dim and the only company around to witness his exit from the large television and subsequent embarrassing failure to walk properly are the front desk workers, who are too engrossed with the work on the hospital phone lines or desktop computers.

He came back at the perfect time with good-enough conditions to make a clean escape back to his hospital room without anyone being the wiser. “Now to just grab everything and leave..” Yu murmured to himself as he dusted himself off and began to collect his belongings as a security guard walked through the lobby, radioed in with others who were on the search for something, or someone. The boy had just started to walk away until the guard turned his head and noticed the silver mop of hair that matched a certain missing patient they were looking for.

“THERE HE IS!”

Well, it had been **almost** perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter that isn't posted at unholy hours on my end?? IT'S A MIRACLE! The Midnight Channel of the past has been unlocked, and Yu's going to explore more of it at another time. The main factor that made me want to write a mostly peaceful TV World came from the Persona 4: Dancing All Night remix of "Shadow World" from Persona 4 Golden. The dance for it using Nanako is just so cute, and half the time, I just imagined little Yu Narukami dancing it in this past!TV World, and the remixed song had a lot of echos, partial distortions, and bell tones sounds that gave me vibes of a place that used to be beautiful in the past, and that the song celebrates that past.
> 
> About Medi, they're meant to be a one-time shadow since Yu won't be near that specific hospital anytime soon. What do you guys think of them? I got inspiration for them from two characters of other game franchises: Wraith (from Apex Legends) and her Marbled Goddess skin being the base idea, but Mercy (from Overwatch) in her Winged Victory skin drawing in most of the appearance aspects. Basically, a greek statue made of marble in the image of a goddess in a cuter outfit than usual because those statues are either in basic robes or naked. Medi is meant to be specified as a female by appearance, but because I ended up treating them as an inanimate object until their name was revealed and they're a shadow so they can canonically change their form at will (THANKS TEDDIE), so I just stuck with they/them afterwards. About her persona, Epione is from Greek Mythology, is the wife of Asclepius and represents the care needed for recovery, so faster heals rather than insta-heals. Finally, about that gem they gave Yu, it'll come to play later. (>;3c)
> 
> ALSO, THE WORD COUNT THIS CHAPTER. 3k I believe, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :D Had fun putting it together, but now that we get some exposition, we gotta get to plot now. How else are we gonna get this boyo over to S.E.E.S and meet some familiar faces a little earlier than he did last go around~? Thank you so much for the 450+ hits and kudos! Let me know what you guys think of this chapter, my writing, or the story so far with reviews and kudos!
> 
> ~Til next chapter everyone, Phoe out~


	5. Every day's great at your Junes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yu is punished for his midnight escapades because he's currently a child and used to the freedom he had in the past, but gets to explore more of the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently unbeta'd.  
>  **-In need of beta readers-**

**Wednesday January 5 th, 2005**

**Narukami Residence**

**Shibuya, Tokyo**

Grounded.

For the first time in the history of both timelines he'd been apart of, Yu Narukami had been grounded, all because of his “disappearing act” in the hospital. He could recall it all perfectly:

[Once he had been caught by the guard on duty, he was brought over to a familiar hospital room, but it was extremely noisy inside. When he was set down inside, there were over five pairs of eyes looking at him, some with shock, annoyance, relief, and personally for him from his parents, disappointment.

Yu Narukami attempted to play his story off as being frightened by waking up somewhere strange and having no memories of how he got there. He claimed he had run away in search of his parents. He managed to sell the story using a tearful and apologetic expression during his _recount_ of the night.

The two nurses who had shifts when he went missing recounted checking in on the room, but finding no one there and all the medical instruments had been removed. The first nurse went to search the hospital for the rest of their shift, while the second made the move to report the missing child and call in security after confirming that the child was gone.

A janitor had complained to a guard around the early morning that his keys had gone missing, and when questioned about it, Yu tried to keep up his scared child act. He whimpered and gave a statement about how he had tried to hide in a closet after he found some misplaced keys on the floor, but eventually gave up and ran off after hearing strange moans and cries in the hallway. To finish it off, he trailed off at the end to begin sniffling. If he got the chance in the future, he'd give Yumi a heartful thanks for all the acting lessons and support he got from her during his time in drama club, because he felt he just gave the performance of a lifetime there.

The doctor in charge of his case had been shocked to find the swelling of his head injury had gone down, but was still upset that he had run away. However they had been the only one to defend Yu's side as it would be normal for a child to panic when waking up in a hospital with no one around him, finding it extremely irresponsible to not have stayed.

His parents had argued that they left the hospital to care for their son because neither of their jobs would give them time-off the next day to be able to stay the night, which ensured an continuing argument from the doctor and his parents.

At one point, the nurse who had tried searching for him the night before spoke to the guard and requested if she could take him down to the hospital's cafeteria to get him some breakfast, and reluctantly, the guard agreed and handed him off to the nurse. That nurse's kindness for his well-being and to get him out of a tense atmosphere reminded him of Sayako, once he got to know her better, someone who just wanted to help others...

Yu had been eating under the nurse's supervision before his parents came for him. It was a bit annoying for him as he had just finished up with some eggs and was starting on the fruit cup that came with the meal, but was dragged off without finishing it. He could tell they were upset, and the silent car ride was anything but relaxing. He swore he could cut the tension in the air with a knife. His only solace in that ride was the silence, where he closed his eyes to avoid his parents' gaze and just communicated with Izanagi in the depths of his soul. He could feel a sense of comfort emanating from his other self as they spoke about last night, from the run away from shadows to the strange but interesting Midnight Channel of the past, and it was enough to lull him to sleep once more.]

That next morning, he received his punishment. He was grounded until the 5th, and he was to remain in the house under the watch of one of his parents. Out of all those days, he had to say the first one had been the worst because when he woke up, he could hear his dad downstairs gripping about him over the phone. By listening in, he could only listen to the ranting his father was giving to another about his son acted irrationally but it was probably from his injury, about how missing work to watch his son could affect his career inadvertently, and about how they were doing this to make sure their son would rest but also learn his lesson. The next day, his mother had echoed a similar sentiment, but he had already heard it before, so he elected to ignore it and go back to his room. The days he spent grounded were dull as he spent most of the day in his room. One day, he chose to clean it, the next he spent making paper cranes and reading, another he chose to review his school material, the last he spent resting and gazing outside, reminiscing about his days in Inaba.

By the time his punishment was over on the fifth of January, his parents were back working most of the day while he still had two days left of winter break for himself. When he woke up, they were already leaving. When they spotted him, his mother gave him a quick peck on the forehead and the cheek, while his father ruffled his hair gave a quick peck on the forehead and said their goodbyes. He returned it with a quiet wish of good luck, as he watched them rush out the door, as he was once again, left alone.

With Yu's memories of the future, he knew this would never change. In fact, for the coming school year, his father would get another _big_ opportunity at work and they'd move again for one year. While he could despair over his unfortunate fate that seemed doomed to repeat at the moment, like he wanted to as he ran through each time they moved away, never staying in one place, never able to make friends, never feeling like he had a place to truly call home like he did with Inaba, Izanagi urged him to stop his wallowing and start to act to change that instead. Eventually, he gave in and listened to the suggestion by his other self and got ready for the day. He first went to wash up and change the bandages on his head, because his parents always did them too tightly and he refused to let them try it after the first night of him being back home, then went to cook breakfast for himself. As he started, he found himself unconsciously preparing making a familiar dish as he drifted off into conversation with his Persona: sunny-side up eggs with toast to the side. He spent that breakfast eating with teary eyes and a small smile as he thought back to meals in the Dojima household, feeling a little less alone in the empty house.

As he was cleaning the dishes, he realized the fridge was getting low. His parents would have the food his mom had prepared over the weekend, but he still needed to have enough for lunch and dinner for himself over the week. Yu never remembered having the luxury of his parents cooking for him outside the weekend for long. No, he remembers when his mother received her first promotion at her job, that's when the bento boxes from her stopped and his allowance for getting lunch elsewhere started. That led him to become such a great home cook after all, by cooking easy yet filling meals on a budget for years.

Speaking of budget, he needed to check how much he had left in his allowance savings to spend for food and supplies for the TV World. If he was planning to venture back to the Midnight Channel, he'd need to be prepared with some snacks and items to help him out in a bind! Once he put the clean dishes into the drying rack, he walked back upstairs and into his room. On his bedside table there was a lucky calico cat coin bank with a miniature paper crane set up against it. That's where he usually put his weekly allowance and spare change. Seeing the childish cat coin bank again brought a small smile to Narukami, reminding him that while his parents didn't get to spend much time with him, they tried to remember his interests, like his adoration over felines. After screwing off the bottom tab and counting out how much money he had for the time being, Yu wrote out a short grocery list on a sheet of notepad paper, put the money away in his wallet, grabbed the house keys to lock up, and set off. Next stop, Junes!

As he wandered the streets of Tokyo, Yu could tell he was getting some unwanted stares of attention. After all, all they saw is a young child walking around by himself with no parents or guardians around, and had bandages wrapped around his head. That would look odd to any onlookers! Most minded their own business, but for those that tried to approach him, he usually ran off into any nearby crowds to get them off his trail. It took longer than expected thanks to some necessary detours, but he made it to the Junes of Shibuya, Tokyo.

Stepping inside, he could hear the familiar jingle of Junes greet him at the entrance, the double doors to the department store closing behind him once he stepped past the door's sensor mat. He looked back at his list, then up at the store, and proceeded to frown. “It's a Junes, but not HIS Junes.” He huffed to himself quietly, pushing back the thoughts of a certain partner, before walking off to start shopping by grabbing one a shopping basket off the rack and walking over to the produce section.

Yu had managed to get at least half of the items on his list when he heard some commotion nearby, sounded like some younger kids fighting while an older kid was scolding them both for fighting in the store. He sighed and went back to deciding over buying a small dessert to go with his lunch or not, because the coffee jelly in his hand looked really good but definitely was not on his list of essentials. Preoccupied with his internal debate over a snack, he didn't notice the voices getting closer until he felt a strong shove against his side that was pushing him over. He was too late to react as he was in free-fall towards the floor, so he braced for impact and shut his eyes.

“...?”

He didn't feel his head aching in pain from hitting something for the third time in a week like he had expected to. Instead, when he opened his eyes he found himself hovering just a few inches from the ground with a few strands of his silver hair just barely touching the floor, coffee jelly container broken and spilled on the floor right under him, and a pair of hands struggling to grip onto his waist properly.

“I can't hold on m-much longer!” The stranger whined as he felt the hands let go and both the stranger and himself fell across from each other and onto the ground, albeit in a much gentler manner than he was initially intended to fall at. He could feel the coffee jelly starting to seep and stain his shirt, frowning a bit as he moved his hands forward to push himself up.

“Geez! First they argue loud enough that other people start staring, then they push some poor kid down. Some nerve!” The stranger complains in an upset manner, even shouting at his last statement, but that heat cools off once he sighs and whispers under his breath. “...I wouldn't have come to help dad out today during his shift if I knew it would turn out like this...”

He sounds like the one older kid from earlier that was attempting to break up the fight happening several aisles behind him. However, he could feel an itching feeling of familiarity from that voice.

“-r-right! I didn't mean to leave you hanging there... Here, let me help you up.” The stranger stated, remembering the other kid in front of him, as he held out a hand for Yu to take. Said boy on the floor moves a bit to take the hand before looking up at the kid in front of him, then freezes in shock the second their eyes meet.

He recognized that messy hairstyle, but it was a lot shorter than he remembered and wasn't dyed yet. That boy had the same warm chestnut-colored eyes that gave him assurance and stayed with him during his darkest times in December. His eyes currently held some distress in them from the kids from earlier, or just from being at Junes, but they hadn't drowned in that distress like they had when they had when Saki went missing, or when his shadow riled him up by revealing everything he didn't want to hear inside Saki's dungeon in the TV World. He had a lopsided and mischievous smile that mirrored the one Yu remembered seeing whenever it was just the two of them, always grinning at his one and only partner.

“.... _Yo-Yosuke?_ ”

For a split second, Yu felt it was too much to process at the time, as his memories of his partner rushed through his head, but he couldn't get overwhelmed! Not right now! He had a chance to officially meet Yosuke sooner than ever before, and connect to someone as unforgettable as him. The only noticeable differences about younger Yosuke were his voice and that he was taller. It would be different for Yu to have to look up at him for a change, but it's only fair as he'd be taller when they're older.

He tries to push back any giveaway of his shock with his impenatrable poker face before stating off. “..ah, thank you.” The silver-haired boy responds quietly as he's assisted up, making the other grin at him seeing him back on his feet.

“I'm real sorry you got involved in that mess. I didn't think they'd actually run away when I said I'd take them up front for the manager to call their mom, much less push anyone.” Yosuke starts his apology, scratching the back of his head as he laughed nervously.

Yu looks just as awkward about the situation, offering a small but apologetic smile as his hand pulls away from Yosuke's. “It wasn't your fault that I fell, in fact, you chose to help me instead of chasing them. That's pretty kind of you.” He says before looking down to his basket of groceries left in the line of fire from those kids, and the broken coffee jelly on the floor, a pout growing on his face.

Yosuke flushes a bit from the compliment and is about to say something back before noticing the enormous stain on Yu's shirt, immediately panicking. “Yikes, that's a really deep stain!” He almost shouts as Yu's silver eyes look away from the floor and down to his ruined outfit, the mess of the jelly having spilled down from his shirt to the upper half of his pants.

“It could be worst.” Yu states nonchalantly as he looks back to Yosuke, only panicking the other more. How was this kid not worried at all?! His own inability to stop those kids led to this kid almost getting hurt badly if the bandages on his head were any indicator of his state, or worst, getting in trouble from his dad if he finds out about this part of his day. That's when Yosuke decides he's gonna make sure this kid at least makes it out of Junes okay. It was the least he could do since it was basically his fault he was in this mess.

“Hey. Let's get you some new clothes and lunch, my treat? Then I'll stay with you when you're getting all your stuff back in case you get hurt again. You know, like a bodyguard.” Yosuke offers with a smile, holding out his hand again for the other to follow. He can tell the other's a bit hesitant, but accepts nonetheless as his own smile becomes a grin.

“I'm not too picky, just don't spend too much.” Yu mumbles quietly before Yosuke scoffs playfully, walking away with the other over to the clothing section of the store.

“No, just pick out something you like. Really, it's okay! My dad works as a shift manager here, so all of us get a discount here.” The brunette reassures as the other boy sighs for a moment and gives in. “If you say so...” is all he gets back before Yosuke remembers one last thing.

“By the way, I'm Hanamura Yosuke! What's your name?”

“Yu. It's Narukami Yu, nice to meet you Hanamura-kun.”

**Wednesday January 5 th, 2005**

**Junes Food Court**

**Shibuya, Tokyo**

“I can't believe you finished off that entire thing in no time.” Yosuke says in disbelief as Yu returns his statement with a sheepish grin.

“Steak is something I don't get to have very often. I may have gotten carried away..” The silver-haired boy states as his cheeks gains a tint of pink from embarrassment. Yu felt he was getting a little careless, but it was so hard not to, this Yosuke just acted so much like him.

The two boys had finished shopping for a replacement outfit for Yu and were having lunch together in the food court. It was lively enough that most people ignored the two elementary kids after a single glance of acknowledgment.

Yosuke had helped Yu find an alternate outfit, consisting of some black jean capris and a navy-blue mock turtleneck to go with the grey jacket he had beforehand. He joked that Yu needed some more color to his outfits when the boy was initially picking out a white button-up after seeing his plain sense of style from his initial outfit, so he took it to heart and let Yosuke help him find something different.

After all that, Yosuke paid for the clothes by using the employee discount before he shooed Yu off to go change immediately. He waited outside the stall and had asked Yu to put his stained clothes in the bag his new clothes came in, and then Yosuke would take them to the staff room to hide them until he could take them home to wash himself and return to Yu another time. Even Yu had felt it was too much, but Yosuke insisted on it, so he couldn't argue much against him and he'd be guaranteed to see him again at least.

“Look, I get it, but you're so short and you put it away so fast..” Yosuke tried to get out before Yu huffed at him.

“Pot, meet kettle. You finished off your plate not too long after I did, and you're only a few inches taller than me!” Yu retorted with a pout.

“But--!!”

He was going to continue protesting, but it was at that point Yosuke realized Yu was messing with him as he sighed and started to laugh. When that happened, the other boy joined in on that laughter. For that split moment, Yu desperately wanted time to freeze right there, because it was the first time he had felt at home since he awakened to this new timeline.

Once their laughter died down, the brunette sighs and looks up the sky, trying to avoid Yu's gaze as he stutters out something unexpected. “It's kind of funny. I get the feeling like we were meant to meet-!! M-Maybe not with you almost falling and all...but I just have never had this much fun before by just talking and hanging out.” He finishes and looks back to Yu, only to find him smiling a lot warmer than before, and were those tears in his eyes?!

Yosuke's about fret about “making it weird” between them, but Yu beats him to the punch by wiping away the few stray tears with his hands and giving the other a soft laugh before starting. “I guess I feel the same, it's really easy to be open with you...and don't worry about scaring me off. I don't really get to hang out with other kids that often.”

They both sit quietly to take in each other's words before Yosuke yawns and stretches. “Well Narukami, it's getting late.. We should finish up soon. You still need to get all your groceries and everything that those kids broke, and I still need to be able to get home to get your stuff washed, so let's get a move on!” He reasons as he starts to get out of his seat and grab his tray. Yu hums in agreement as he follows the other boy's actions on leaving, a little disappointed they'll have to part so soon.

Once their trays are away, Yosuke takes a look back at Yu and offers a lopsided grin, grabbing his hand again and beginning to run back to the department store with the other boy in tow.

“C'mon Narukami! Time's a-wasting!” He encourages, bringing Yu back to the present and returns a smile of his own.

“Right!”

As the two ran off, Yu felt a faint power stirring within his soul, a familiar bond reforming.

_Thou art I... And I am thou_

_Thou hast established a new bond..._

_~~_

_It brings thee closer to the truth_

_that shall freeth a distorted future..._

_~~_

_With the blessing of the Magician Arcana_

_thou obtained a power of the heart_

_that shall strengthen thy resolve..._

~~

**Wednesday January 5 th, 2005**

**Narukami Residence**

**Shibuya, Tokyo**

Getting all his groceries back with Yosuke at his side made everything a breeze, but parting was bittersweet. The two of them managed to cheer up when Yu asked if they could meet up again at Saigōyama Park tomorrow afternoon, and Yosuke eagerly agreed. It had been nice being able to hang out with familiar friend, even if it was technically their first encounter. If anything, it was a pure coincidence, as Yosuke had also lived in Tokyo before moving out to Inaba, Narukami had just been lucky to stumble upon the Junes were Hanamura's dad worked out of any the others around the Tokyo area. Placing a hand over his chest, he could still feel the faint new power of a rekindled social link flowing through him. Izanagi had even confirmed the connection by resonating with the Magician arcana's energy inside his soul briefly.

Even after spending his entire afternoon with Yosuke until the sun began to set, he still made it home earlier than his parents did. While he can't say he didn't see this coming, Yu at least set the table for them to have dinner before going to organizing his purchases from Junes, most of it going to the fridge, others going to his room.

The Wild Card had to be prepared to hide away in the Midnight Channel again if the world changed again at midnight...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deeper into the plot we go! Yosuke's here now, because I think they should be childhood friends. His involvement in Yu's life now is gonna help Yu out of the fate of constantly changing schools for his parents, and they both get to be A LOT less lonely than they do in canon. There are still a few more P4 characters Yu's gonna interact with earlier than last timeline, but for now, I'll allow Yu his partner back. 
> 
> How'd you guys like new social link text? I thought it should fit this new context of him knowing the truth, but having to stay strong to fix the future, drawing inspiration from both the P4 social link establishing text and P5's confidant establishing text. This chapter was brought to you by THIS [JAMMIN' REMIX](https://youtu.be/P8l0HOW6Nto) OF THE JUNES THEME, because I tend to use mood music to write chapters. 
> 
> Speaking of this chapter, I got to nearly 3.7k words this time! I'm doing my best to add as much as I can to these chapters until I need to cut them off. Thank you everyone so much for the 550+ hits and kudos! I'm gonna try and pump out and prep some more chapters before my university starts back up soon! Also, how would you guys feel if I start a new Persona AU series? This time, it would be post!P4 Golden but before P5. It might be a series that has some chaptered fics but some one shots, but I'm still planning it. Let me know what you guys think with reviews and kudos!
> 
> ~Til next chapter everyone, Phoe out~


	6. Busy Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yu spends his first night officially in the Dark Hour, explores the Midnight Channel shortly after, then has a meaningful conversation with a ~~n~~ ~~old~~ friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently unbeta'd.  
>  **-In need of beta readers-**

**Wednesday January 5 th, 2005**

**Narukami Residence**

**Shibuya, Tokyo**

_Tick....tok....tick....tok..._

Gray eyes anxiously stared down the night sky. The moon and stars were glowing brilliantly that night, but he wanted to see if they would stay that way. Personally, he still had doubts about that entire hellish experience in the hospital that night, but he knew that he made it to the Midnight Channel that night... After all, he made friends with a shadow who had their own Persona, was healed by said Persona user, discovered that the TV world was peaceful for the moment, and learned more about shadows in general. But what happened in the hospital, the change that overtook the world there at midnight right as the new year arrived, that was a otherworldly experience. It was there that shadows formed in the real world, with those blind that truth unaware of the true horrors they could do to those without a persona.

_Tick....tok....tick....tok..._

Yu looks down to his arms. When he had arrived in front of Medi in the TV World, he could tell he had been bad shape. Not only did he deplete his Persona's stamina, he had depleted his own, practically running on adrenaline only at that point. He had been fortunate to run into that statue shadow that night. He remembers how damaged he was then, all of those wounds were sealed and minimized using Dia, all that's left are the faint scars that blend into his skin easily, perfect to ensure his parents never found out.

_Tick....tok....tick....tok..._

The young Wild Card glances back over to his alarm clock one more time. It was 11:59 pm. Only one minute left to see if the world changed. He kept his messenger bag close, filled with medicine and first aid kits from Junes, then some soul drops, snuff souls, two beads, a soma, and a revival bead he found in his last excursion into the Midnight Channel. That certain Spring of Life was more than a place of healing, it practically produced healing items in the nearby clearing outside of it. On hand, he had a some small smoke bombs stashed away in his pocket if a shadow was too tough or Yu could not land any hits with his skills or weaponry and need to retreat. His most disappointing item was his weapon, a model katana intended for children.

To be fair, there wasn't a Daidara Metalwork shop anyway near Tokyo, and even if there was, no one in their right mind would sell a knife to a child, much less a katana. There wasn't much Yu could do besides sharpen it, as his usual katana care methods would not work on plastic and wood. At the very least, he'd have something more comfortable than the rod of a mop. He hoped the toy would be able to handle a few uses of him conducting electricity through it.

“Shame if it breaks...it's a bit sharper than a golf club at the very least.” Yu hums to himself with amusement, thinking back to the time Yosuke brought a fake nata and katana to the food court. That had not been a fun afternoon explaining himself to Dojima, but it still never went on his permanent record, so he'll take it as a victory to this day.

_Tick....tok--!!_

Yu only saw the alarm clock change to 12 am for a split second before everything powered down. He turned to look outside and was greeted with the sight of the eerily green moon and night-sky taking the place of the starry night sky that night. Looks like it was time...

The young Wild Card hoisted the bag up to his bed, did a final check of his supplies and weaponry and stepped out of his room. Passing his parent's room, he was left wanting to confirm that this was the strange distortion by checking for the coffins. It wouldn't be a coincidence if he was able to walk around freely because he has a persona while his parents weren't.

He stood by the door for a few moments, backpack set down against the doorway, a hand anxiously gripping at the doorknob, fearful of what to find. Yu could feel Izanagi giving him that last push of confidence he needed to confirm it, reminding him that this time could be limited and they needed to get some training in before slipping off to the Midnight Channel. He threw open the door and gaped at the coffins lying atop the bed, confirming his theory, but leaving him with mixed feelings of horror and relief. Moving closer and placing a hand to the one closest to the door, he felt his eyes tear a bit at the sight as he whispered to it softly, silently wishing they'd be able to hear him.

_“_ I'll be back soon. Take care until then, mom, dad.”

Wiping away a stray tear he had, Yu stepped away from the bedroom and shut the door once again, grabbed his bag and set off. There was no time to waste.

**Thursday January 6 th, 2005**

**Saigōyama Park**

**Shibuya, Tokyo**

After stepping outside of his house and onto the streets of Shibuya, he found a desolate neighborhood say for the few coffins left outside and a red liquid oozing out of areas here and there. Izanagi didn't sense any shadows nearby, so it was safe to say they were clear for now. With his model katana at his side, he moved forward onto the streets of Shibuya to see how other areas fared at this time of night.

“IZANAGI!”

With a crash of glass emitting from the tarot card of the fool, Yu felt the electrifying presence of his other self come through. From there, he cast Zio to see if he'd found the Dancing Hand's weakness, but instead found it resistant, infuriating him. He opted for a dual attack of his katana and Izanagi's naginata, both infused with Cleave. Izanagi attacked first and managed to knock it, which allowed Yu the opportunity to dizzy it afterwards with his own attack, leaving the shadow wide open for a final slash of his katana.

Before dismissing Izanagi, he asked if there were anymore hostile shadows around, and luckily received a confirmation that all targets had been dealt with. Yu sighed in relief as he rested against a tree. He had walked to Saigōyama Park for curiosity's sake, and managed to find a small group of shadows scattered around the park. They hadn't noticed him until he attacked a Cowardly Maya shadow that was closing in on a coffin laying across a bench. At that point, it didn't matter what he did, he'd been spotted and other shadows were now aware of his presence. He pressed further into the park and took down any stragglers, aiming for the middle of the park near the park's fountain, even finding a Wealth Hand in the madness. Once there, he spotted the large Dancing Hand at the base of the fountain, the water turned blood-red as Yu steeled his nerves to begin the assault.

The Wild Card stepped forward to seize the spoils that the shadow had left behind, the usual yen and leftover materials of its form before it faded away, but found there was one extra thing left behind. The back of it looked like the tarot card backing of persona's card, but emitted a different magical presence to him and Izanagi. The front wasn't helpful either as it only held the symbol of attack typing on the front, this one being something that looked like an arrow.

“A Skill Card?” Yu thought out loud as he viewed it over, hoping that he'd find anything else that would indicate what it was. He gave up after a couple more look-overs, sighing as he slipped it into an inner pocket of his jacket.

“I'll see if Igor can help if I can get in contact with him again. If it is a skill card, I should register it before losing it for good.” he said as he committed to himself to that, pocketing the card for later. Yu hoped it was indeed a skill card, because he knew as Izanagi grew in strength, he wouldn't be able to come into any more moves naturally. It was a trade-off for his abilities as a Wild Card to take in new persona beyond him.

For now, that'd end their exploration of this strange time period for the night and onto further exploration of the Midnight Channel. The silver-haired boy walked home, in need of a safe place to treat the scrapes he had accumulated over the night before he'd enter the TV.

**Thursday January 6 th, 2005**

**Iwatodai Dormitory**

**Tatsumi Port Island, Iwatodai City**

“Interesting...most interesting indeed..”

Director Ikutsuki was monitoring the shadow-activity radar in the Command Room while the S.E.E.S trio had been out for the night, fighting shadows near the enterance of Tartarus. The map pulled up on the radar had been scanning for shadows across Japan, and most areas outside of Iwatodai City were fairly low on shadow activity. However, he noticed one of the low activity areas in Tokyo had blinked out after a rotation of the radar, as if they had been defeated.

It had been a relatively small area, a blip in the map of Tokyo, but still, something was off. He doubted it was a fluke in the systems, as the Kirijo Corporation designed this technology just for observation during the Dark Hour for shadow research. Perhaps there was...

"...a Persona user awakened outside of Tatsumi Port Island. There's not much evidence to prove this theory Mitsuru, but considering a cluster of shadows were no longer detected by the radar scan in Tokyo, it's a possibility." He relayed to the squadron, hearing whispers of a conversation on the other end.

"Understood sir. If there's any more to report, please radio in again." The firm voice of Mitsuru Kirijo responded back before shutting the radio frequency down again.

The Director leaned back further into the chair, observing the monitor above him, continuing to scan, left with more questions that answers, but grins maliciously at the mystery of it all.

"My my, this is certainly an unexpected turn of events... Don't hide for too long now.."

**Thursday January 6 th, 2005**

**Midnight Channel**

**Tokyo**

The television in his own room was too small, so Yu had to use the living room's television. He still had his own reservations about it after his reawakening incident, but Izanagi assured him that the television set was usable again for normal travel into the TV world. He took his other self's word for it and put his arm through to test, then entered in once his hand had phased into the TV, confirming it could work, falling through the entrance way of the Midnight Channel once his body phased through entirely.

Gray eyes fluttered open as the tunnel to the Midnight Channel ended, Yu looking down to the area he'd be landing in. It was far different than the lake clearing he had found himself in while at the hospital, this time it was a floating island. The island itself had nothing notable around the edge of it, but the center of it was surrounded by the static cloud cover. It made him more curious than anything on what was going on there.

Landing at one of the corners of the floating island, Yu could feel the atmosphere around him change, but it wasn't one that was disorienting like the fog of Inaba, this was more an emotional sensation. The air felt tense, but Yu brushed it off as it was nothing foreign to him, and trekked further inside. He brushes past the greenery of the floating island as he goes deeper into the clouded center, his path having been solitary with nothing alive in the island but the nature of it. Suddenly, his Persona alerts him that he's not alone, and that he senses a nearby presence, but doesn't sense any hostility. The boy nods and whispers a quiet thank you to his other self before moving his one hand over the sheath of his model katana, ready to pull it out, as his other hand gripped at the last piece of foliage separating him from the possible shadow.

Taking a final breath, he pushed back the branch and stepped forward, entering a circular clearing. Inside, there was a small waterfall, caused by another island's gushing water falling from above onto the one he resided on currently, and a cave formation past the water, with something moving inside. Yu inched closer, hearing only the gentle sounds of running water hitting past the cave and flowing down to a stream that exited the island from one side only. The figure in the cave came closer into view as he came closer. Finally, he could make out what it was, some sort of ball of light, sky blue in color, but looked engulfed by a shadowy substance falling from that light as it sat on the floor. He swore he could hear it mumbling something, but the words were unintelligible to him, but its gestures said something else, that it was scared.

Moving his hand away from the katana and instead choosing to reach out a hand towards it, Yu purposely stepped into it's line of sight. The light reacted immediately, with its light beginning to waver and its movements becoming more skittish, unprepared to see anyone.

“Hello there..” He whispered in a gentle manner before bending down to its level, to get a better look at it. From closer examinations, he could make out colors in the shadowy goop below it, namely blue and red, but the light was a bit too much for him to stare at for long. Yu turned back and looked over to the waterfall in front of them, smiling at the sound of running water.

“Sorry for scaring you.” He starts softly, continuing to keep his voice low in an effort to not make it fear him any more than it already was. The light inside the black substance slowly begins to stop shaking as much once Yu turns away from it, leaving him wondering if its shy as well.

“You're just the first thing I've seen on this floating island since I landed here, well...outside of the leaves, trees, bamboo and water.” Yu continues, looking back at the light to see it slowly inching closer to him for a moment, before setting itself back on the ground. “That's why you must have panicked when you saw me, right? It doesn't look like there's much here besides the land itself, well that and you.” He asks as the creature reacts to that statement, murmuring in its strange language again, seemingly agreeing with this sentiment. He lets it mumble to itself in peace before he prompts it with a question.

“Are you a shadow?”

The strange being shouts in shock at the question, hesitating as it looks over the boy before it moves in an up-and-down motion, trying to signal that he was right. Its strange gestures make Yu laugh warmly for a brief moment, taking its answer as a yes.

“Hahah, sorry. It's just that you don't look like the shadows I normally meet, and you don't act like one either.” He responds, filling the air with some noise before it's back to a serene silence from the environment around them. The light-filled shadow moves closer to the boy, careful to not stain him with any of the black substance that follows it, and is eager to hear more from the rumbles of noise it's making.

“Huh? You want to know about other shadows?” Yu asks it to confirm, another up-and-down gesture being the only answer he needs before he hums and tries to think about the shadows he's met so far. Pondering about shadows has him trying to think of key differences about the shadows he's encountered in the Midnight Channel so far, and those that are currently outside in the real world when it becomes hellish. “Well, they aren't friendly, at least the ones from the outside. So far, you and this other shadow I've met are friendly, and you're also both from here.” He tries to explain before thinking it through.

Yu looks over to the shadow, then up at the sky of the TV World. “...Like all those much more confrontational emotions make up the ones outside, while the rest are left here, making shadows that are less likely to harm people.” He thinks out loud, sighing. “ _If that's true, what kind of emotions are you made out of?_ ” He wonders to himself about the shadow's formation based on Medi's words about them glancing back over to the strange shadow, then thinks back to the environment of the floating island his home's TV dropped him off on. Looks like paradise, but is desolate inside. “ _Is this how we view our home? Then...he's our feelings. Oh no.._ ”

If Medi was right about shadow formation here in the early Midnight Channel, then that means this shadow likely was filled with a lot of the emotions he faced before Izanagi awoke him, loneliness, abandonment, desire to please, and in need of attention. He didn't even want to think what his parents contributed to this poor shadow's state of being. However, he wanted to confirm it before jumping to conclusions.

“Have you been alive for long?”

He got a shake of the body as a response.

“Is it just you here?”

This time, he got a nodding gesture.

“Are you lonely?”

A second nod came through before Yu looked down at the shadow with sympathy.

“I felt that a lot too before, but then I remembered something important. Now, I know I won't be alone, not anymore at least.” He states warmly, a hand holding his chest, where he feels Izanagi nod in agreement, and the faint hum of his beginning social link emitting a soft power back to him, confirming of his bond. Yu remembers how warm the power of his social links would be before, when he reached out to those chance encounters in his life and made them something important, both for himself and them.

He hears quiet mumbles of its unknown language, inching closer to him, but visibly shaking to take the last step. If it really had been made from some of his emotions before everything happened, then he had to step up and take responsibility to help this shadow find its sense of self! Then maybe he could get the chance to see more of this world, and how he could help it, maybe even preserve it before Izanami got her hands on it.

“You don't have to be lonely anymore too. I'll be here for you. I can come by and visit, bring some things over from my world to share here. This can be our safe house, away from everything...” Yu starts, holding out his hand for the shadow, and offers a small smile of encouragement.

“What do you say?”

The shadow did not hesitate as it rushed to the held out hand, letting itself sink into the warm touch of another, trilling quietly in delight. It seems it never realized how touch-starved it was, as it never knew the presence of another being before. The boy giggles quietly, ignoring that his hand is getting a bit dirty from the shadow, but it was worth it to see it happy. However, a surprise came a few moments afterwards.

_Thou art I... And I am thou_

_Thou hast established a new bond..._

_~~_

_It brings thee closer to the truth_

_that shall freeth a distorted future..._

_~~_

_With the blessing of the **** Arcana_

_thou obtained a power of the heart_

_that shall strengthen thy resolve..._

Yu hadn't expected a social link to form from that! Then again, it was an odd bond for sure as an arcana has yet to be determined for it, but if he continued to work at it, he's sure it will come together eventually.

He didn't have much to offer the shadow in terms of items from his world, but he did have his gear on him. Yu did his best to explain the phenomenon he witnessed in the hospital, and then place he had found in the TV entrance there, and what how that phenomenon happened again before he ended up here with it. The shadow looked intrigued by its gestures, sometimes the light inside of it shining brilliantly at higher moments of his recount, and dimmed at others. It was nice to pass the time at least by talking.

At some point, it finally occurred to Yu that he'd need an exit to leave the TV world, and groaned as he remembered that tidbit of information, leaving his shadow friend confused as the boy began to pace around anxiously, trying to come up with a solution. He could feel Izanagi chiding him for forgetting that as he fretted about how to exit until he looked back at his shadow friend. The light inside of them was glowing brighter and brighter, as the black substance around it grew bigger until the light was bright enough to blind him. Yu covered his eyes until the light settled to a normal level, the shadow back to normal and was moving off of something. That something, was a single, small, orange box TV with a dinky little antenna box on top of it.

“I...Is that a--!? D..Did you just-?!?”

Yu and Izanagi were both flabbergasted at how quick the shadow was able to create one, especially after how long it took Medi, a long-time sentient shadow, to create a proper exit. Then again, it was in the realms of his house and wasn't somewhere large like a hospital, and that he had landed right onto the small floating island than a large landmass in the TV world like the Springs of Life. He wouldn't question it now, he had to head home and he'd definitely bring some snacks with him to thank the shadow for its help in his predicament.

“Thank you so much for the exit pathway! It slipped my mind that I need one to leave.” He states as he moves to pet the top of the shadow's body, it trilling at the touch.

“I've gotta go now, but I'll be back in a day or two with more things to show you about my world... Will you be okay on your own?” He asks as he looks down, the shadow stopping its trills before the light dims for a moment, then returns to normal as it gives a shake of its body for a “no” response. Yu's feels bittersweet about leaving, but he has to return or afford missing his meeting with Yosuke later, and he's not willing to compromise on another chance to see his partner again before the winter break is over. Giving one last pet of finality to the shadow, the boy smiles back at him before walking over to the TV, his words echoing in the shadow's mind as its left to stew its own thoughts again.

“This isn't a goodbye, but I'll see you again soon. Take care!”

**Thursday January 6 th, 2005**

**Saigōyama Park**

**Shibuya, Tokyo**

“Narukami!”

Yu turned his head over to a boy in the distance. The park had been rather empty by the time he had arrived himself, but now that the afternoon crowds were coming out, it was a bit hard to see the other boy. However, it wasn't long until he could spotted a familiar messy-haired boy in the crowd, walking with his bike and headphones resting on his shoulders, playing a tune he enjoyed.

“ _It was nice to see nothing really changes with him..._ ” He hums to himself quietly as he begins to try and weave himself through the crowd to reach Yosuke. Unfortunately, with one boy already walking with the crowd, and the other walking to it, both boys end up losing each other in it.

Yosuke gets an idea after getting shoved by some group of teenagers as he cups his free hand over his mouth and shouts out...

“Narukami!”

There's silence in the air for a few moments before there's an unsure response back.

“Hanamura?”

The headphones wearing boy smiles as he leads his bike over to the direction of the quiet voice, occasionally repeating the name and getting a response back, like a game of Marco Polo. Soon enough, they reunited as Yosuke found a tree outside of the park's walkway, perfect to lay his bike against as he continued to call for the other boy.

Once Yu heard Yosuke's calls consistently, he walked over to the tree the other boy picked out. The silver-haired boy was holding a large bag with both of his hands, looking rather relieved, as a small smile on his face appears on his face at the sight of the other. Both of them look a bit shaken up from the crowd engulfing them earlier, but with each other, they fall back into a comfortable pace.

“Thought I lost you there Narukami.” Yosuke states before grinning and wrapping an arm around the other's shoulder.

“Same here.” Yu starts, a small gasp escaping him as he's pulled in closer to the other's side. At the sudden closeness, Yu's smile changes to gentle laughter. “You're rather touchy for someone who they met by chance.” he teases in between his laughs, the left out thought of “ _I don't mind it though_ ” hangs in the air.

Yosuke blushes and pouts before pointing in an accusatory manner at the other boy. “Says the one who said something sappy, all just to comfort me.” He huffs before Yu laughs warmly again for a bit before calming down and just smiling back at the other boy.

“Alright, you got me there...” He hums playfully before he looks back down at the bag in his hands and looks a bit flushed himself. “Oh right! I made something today, to thank you for helping me out yesterday when I fell, the clothes, and just with... _everything_. You really made my day yesterday!” He starts as he slips out of Yosuke's grip, sets the bag on the floor, then takes a seat in front of it and begins to open it. It's a two-tiered bento box with a thermos set inside. “I made lunch! I thought it would only be fair since you treated me yesterday.”

He looks back at Yosuke, who's gasping at the sight of food, the scent of the meal being absolutely mouth-watering. Yu grinned proudly, happy with his handiwork. He had the knowledge of his past life to thank for being able to prepare something this good at this age!

It takes a bit for Yosuke to come out of his food-driven stupor before he finally is able to speak up again. “Whoa, you can cook? Well, you do seem good with your hands-!!” he starts before blushing and shaking his head. “..Umm.. Never mind....”

Yu wants to push further and ask about that statement, but Yosuke's already changed the topic as he's closing up the picnic bag up to hold it with both hands again so they could walk around the park.

“Hey, why don't we find a less crowded spot to sit down and eat this? You can set the bag on my bike and we can each hold a handlebar to walk it together. That way, we don't get separated again.” Yosuke offers as he gestures to his bike, resting against the tree. He isn't really hungry yet either, so he could wait, plus, they could talk in the meantime. Yu nods in agreement as Yosuke begins to grin again, moving to get his bike standing, then looks towards him. “Let's go!” he cheers as the silver-haired boy sets down the bag and takes hold of the other bike handle, the two of them walking further into the park, making idle chatter with each other.

They were into a _very serious_ discussion as they passed by the playground, the younger children playing around were leaving with their parents to return home. Yu's gaze lingered towards the empty swings, tempted to just play on them and act his physical age for once! His mind was already starting to think back to the fact that he never came around here with his parents because they were always working, and he didn't have any friends before to come hang out with before. He had always been alone when he was younger until he arrived at Inaba, hadn't he?

“So, the gray hair's natural then, and not dyed? It's not that it looks bad or anything! Just, that I've never seen another kid with hair like yours..” Yosuke asked before correcting himself as the two walked. He noticed Yu's pace slowed down as they were passing the playground. He looked over and noticed that his friend was looking over at something, and decided to step in. “Narukami, you okay? Want to take a break here?” He asks as he stops walking, the sudden stop snapping Yu back to the present.

“..Mhm..” He responds quietly, his gaze remaining at the playground, looking at it with longing.

Yosuke takes the lead as he guides Yu and his bike to a nearby tree around the playground, pulls out an adjustable bike lock, and secures the bike and Yu's bag. He then taking the silver-haired boy's hand and walking him over to the swings, where his friend seemed to be fixated. The sudden hand holding elicits a small gasp of surprise from the other boy, but he doesn't pull away, so Yosuke takes it as an okay to continue as he led them over. Once there, he moves his hand away from Yu's and gestures towards the swings, waiting for him to get on first before he did. He does that all as he hides a concerned expression for his distant friend with a small smile. “C'mon. Let's talk.. You look like you have a lot to say.”

Yu takes hold of the one of the swings, then takes a seat. Yosuke follows his lead as the takes the one to his left, both of them swinging in silence for a moment before one speaks up.

“I didn't mean to ruin the mood.” Yu apologizes as he looks forward towards the empty playground. “I just thought about something...something that upsets me, but I can't really do anything about it.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Yosuke asks as he gets a quiet mumble of “..yeah..” as a response back from the other.

“...Th..there were some friends I had before, but I was forced to leave them. It hurts to think about not seeing them again, even if it isn't true. But...now I'll be moving again soon, and I'll lose you too. I'll be all alone again.” Yu admits as he thinks back to how his memories of the last timeline ended abruptly around 2016, how he had been in college while keeping in contact with everyone, who had been pursuing their own future prospects, and how that was all undone from some higher being trying to bring ruin to humanity...again. He'd not only have to go through all his trials again, but now face whatever force is causing that strange nightly phenomenon, and hope that his friends will all be okay until he goes to Inaba _officially_ in 2011. It was a lot to deal with, and all he could focus on was that he'd be reliving his lonely childhood again because of his parents, always moving away, never able to connect with others because he's on the move.

Yu looks back at Yosuke, knowing he'd have to keep many of those details about his predicament to himself, but he explained the pattern of moving his parents seemed to follow, and how he'd be moving away at the end of the school year again at this rate.

Yosuke ends up looking frustrated for him as they idly swing together, deep in conversation. “So, they just assume you'll be okay with moving around so often? Okay with never getting the chance to get close to people because you'll be gone soon? Dude, that just--!! Your parents kinda suck.” He states bluntly, huffing at the idea of being forced to move constantly. “...You know, you're really strong for dealing with this by yourself for so long...”

Yu wants to interject about not wanting to be strong for this, but Yosuke continues before he can comment.

“..but it doesn't have to be like that anymore.”

That shakes Yu to his core, as Yosuke stops swinging to look at Yu directly, a determined spark burning in his eyes. “If you really are going to move away soon, then we should keep hanging out until then! School starts back tomorrow, so we could walk to school together. How far is yours? I go to Sarugaku Elementary, and I just listen to music on the way to and from there most days, so it'd be nice to talk to someone else for a change.” The boy exclaims boldly as he tries to start planning out ways to stay in contact with the other.

Yu's shocked at the turn of events, not expecting the other to try and keep their bond close until he moves away again inevitably. He guesses that this Yosuke is also a bit of a loner, just like the Yosuke he had known before, except that he isn't pretending that he's okay, being more true to his emotions because they were both young. Maybe even he could sense there was more their future together, though Yu doubts that for the moment. All he could do is listen to the other's determined planning, as he begins to smile again, deciding that this whole thing wasn't so bad after all.

“I go to Hiroo Elementary, but our schools are in opposite directions. We could always try to meet at the Junes and walk from there until we have to go our own separate ways.” He offers as he slows down from the swing to get off, standing tall once more. Yu looks back at Yosuke, no longer upset from his own tolling feelings, instead looking relieved and less tense. “Hanamura...no, Yosuke-kun, thank you for giving me hope.” He states as he waits for the other to follow through.

Yosuke stops his chatter of plans as he listens to Yu, a faint blush dusting against his freckles as he follows the other boy's lead, not even calling him out for using his first name. He's left stumped about the mysterious silver-haired boy he's befriended so quickly, but something in side of him tells him that his friendship with Yu Narukami will be something special than the others that have drifted apart. “I-I..uh..you're welcome Naru—um..Yu-kun... Y-You can count on me!” He blurts out as he walks over to Yu, the other grinning warmly at the fact that the formalities are wearing off slowly. They return to planning out various ways to hang out and stay in touch even if the other moves away as the afternoon sunlight shines down on them, the two content with each other's presence, and each feeling like they learned a bit more about the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **  
> _Okay, I'm going to say ahead of time, sorry that this chapter is a mess. It's the first one I'm releasing since university classes have started back again. I worked on this for a couple of days, so I may have glossed over areas, messed up in others, and I apologize!_  
>  **
> 
> Yu's first official time in the Dark Hour! He's not sure what he's doing, but he at least wants to help those that can't help themselves in the Dark Hour from these creepy shadows. His weapon was fun to tease at since he is still a kid (and unfortunately not in the cognitive world to make it act as a real katana) so he's having to exert more of his Persona's abilities into it to even do a dent to shadows. At least Izanagi's base abilities are Cleave, Zio and Rakujaka, but because Yu and him beat up enough shadows in the Dark Hour, he's at least got Rakunda now too, which is earned at level 3.
> 
> The TV World was also fun to explore as this new island he's landed on is directly connected to the house, thus it is affected by perceptions to how the house is seen - separate, basic, empty, and tense. Yu's new shadow friend is instead filled with the negative emotions the inhabitants feel there, like Yu's loneliness and abandonment, and his parents' stress and desperateness. My favorite scene though had to be reconnecting with Yosuke, because he's my favorite, hands-down, and will be an important figure to Yu as his trusted partner.
> 
> I wish I wasn't so slow in bringing on the P3 plot, now I can have more leniency to skip around to handle how Yu gets enrolled at Gekkougan to get involved in the first place. Anyways, this chapter was about 5.9 k words this time around! I'm trying to find a consistency to follow for chapters here, but no guarantees. Enjoy the [quick sketches](https://ph03nixs-artstop.tumblr.com/post/626169880142626816/sketches-from-the-early-reawakening-au-series) I drew to help better picture the scene of Yu and the light-shadow meeting, because I know my writing can be a mess, and thank you so much for the 700+ hits and kudos everyone! I'm hoping to start that other Persona AU series I mentioned last chapter, so I hope you guys can continue supporting me and my mess of ideas. Let me know what you guys think with reviews and kudos!
> 
> ~Til next chapter everyone, Phoe out~


	7. A Trip Back Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yu hasn't been feeling so well after his Dark Hour expeditions, so under the advice of Yosuke, and a well-timed but brief business trip from his parents, he is sent back to the one place he considers home, Inaba.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently unbeta'd.  
>  **-In need of beta readers-**

**Monday, January 24 th, 2005**

**Saigōyama Park**

**Shibuya, Tokyo**

Yu and Yosuke had become thick as thieves as the school year began once again. The two were often seen wandering around Junes or the Saigōyama Park whenever they weren't walking to school, side-by-side.

Even if they had nothing to talk about, they were comfortable with each other's presences that they'd take in the quiet walk to their separate schools. Some days, Yosuke would be showing off some new playlists he put into his mp3 and lend his headphones to the gray-haired boy, happy to discuss his music interests with someone who wouldn't brush him off to the side. On rare occasions, Yosuke would lose track of Yu due to the other seeing a stray cat and following it away from their usual trail, and then he'd have to chase the other boy so they could both go to class. Those days often led to them being late to class, cat hair on their uniforms, but great memories to hold onto. It honestly surprised him how many cool hiding spots there were around the city, that and how cats seemed to just know where Yu'd appear next and lead him down a wild-goose chase.

Recently though, the brunette had noticed his silver-haired friend was acting _odd_ . It wasn't that something was **wrong** with him or anything, but just that he looked really tired and drained recently. Whenever he'd ask about it, Yu would brush it off and insist he's fine, but it just made him fret more. Just this morning, he almost went through the crosswalk without looking at the light. Yosuke had to pull him back by grabbing at the back of his uniform shirt just to stop him! When asked about it, he hadn't even realized he had done that, and apologized for making him worry. Not like that was going to stop Yosuke from having the other's back.

They were meeting up in the park today after school, because the food court at Junes got crowded around this time. Yosuke wanted to check on his friend, and see if he could help him out with his own homework since Yu was a natural with homework and classwork. " _Maybe I should ask him to tutor me or something? At least ask if he can share some of his studying tips..._ " He thought to himself as he rode his bike past the entrance of the park. He watched as the leaves flew by him as his bike went through the park, grinning as the cool winter air hit against him, enjoying the moment.

It wasn't long until he found their usual spot in the park, a small clearing out near one of the ponds in the park. He had hopped off his bike at that point and walked with it down the grassy pathway past the trees. As he got closer, he spotted a familiar silver-bowlcut sporting boy resting against one of the trees, his eyes shut and breathing in and out quietly, school bag held close in his hands.

Yosuke smiled softly at the sight before chuckling to himself as he approached. He gave the other a small shake at the shoulder and waited for him to get up. "This isn't exactly a place to sleep Yu-kun. C'mon, up and at em." He encouraged before pulling out snacks for the two of them from his bag, his movements showing how excited he was to eat. "They had cream pan at school today, so I snagged one for each of us!"

".. _mh_ m?"

Yu slowly began to stir, his eyes fluttering open as he saw his friend at his side, a sleepy but small smile gracing his face before he yawned and sat up to stretch. Yosuke chuckled back seeing his friend's demeanor as he took a seat beside him, his bike set up against the back of the tree they were sitting against. He first placed Yu's bread onto his lap before opening the package of his own and beginning to eat. It took a bit for the other boy to finishing waking up completely, but eventually he was up enough to speak properly again.

Yu took the treat and smiled as he looked over to Yosuke, “You know they're going to catch you grabbing extras one day. Thanks Yosuke-kun.” He teased as he moved closer to sit at Yosuke's side, his head leaning against the other boy's shoulders.

For a moment, the sudden movement from Yu flustered him, but it stopped as he noticed something about the silver-haired boy's face as they were close to each other. It's not that there were bags under his eyes, but the area under them were certainly darkening, causing a contrast between him and his pale skin. He tried not to stare too long at it, but once he got teased, he saw it as the perfect out, rolling his eyes and giving a snort. “Let 'em try, no one can catch me with my fast moves! Besides, it's fun to have something to look forward to each day.” he joked as the two laughed briefly. It wasn't long before Yosuke looked over at his friend, hiding concern in his eyes with a smile.

“Yu-kun, I've gotta ask.” He starts as Yu peers over to him curiously, his half-eaten cream pan moved away to prevent from snacking as he waited for Yosuke to finish his thought.

“Yes Yosuke-kun?”

“Why have you been so out of it this week? It's getting pretty bad..” He asked as Yu's curiosity changed into an expression of fear and shock. Did he think he wouldn't notice after yesterday's stunt. He can see the other boy avert his gray eyes away from him, knowing he had been caught. “Don't be like _that,_ Yu!” Yosuke huffed, forgetting about honorifics in the heat of the moment, but that caught the other's attention.

Finally, he gave up with a sigh, moving to look at him once again, the dark spots visible once again. “You really aren't going to give it up, are you Yosuke-kun?”

“You got that right! If I don't, who else is going to call you out on it?” He responds back with concern and determination in his voice. With that, it looks as though Yu gives up hiding it and lets his body fully rest against the tree, his head now fully resting against Yosuke's shoulders.

-

“To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what's wrong with myself either. I've tried avoiding my nightly activities like reading, studying, making paper cranes, all of them, and try to go to sleep earlier, but it hasn't helped...” Yu starts, avoiding the mention of his shadow-related activities. He was going to avoid bringing that up to Yosuke, as he didn't want to trigger an awakening in him anytime soon if it meant he'd be subjected to the same as him.

Speaking of what he's been subjected to, Yu has started to try and cut back on his time in the strange hour period. However, when he does goes out, it's becoming evident that he wasn't ready to take it on, not alone at least. Summoning Izanagi was getting harder during his battles in the distorted real world, as his psyche is stretching thin as he calls upon his other self. Even then, he lends his own stamina in exchange for his persona's power. He's had to resort to just using his body as a conduit for Izanagi's power just to electrify shadows with a slash of his katana or cleave-powered cuts of it, just to avoid calling Izanagi, even if his persona could tear apart the shadows quicker... Had it not been for the effect of items that are seen for “healing” like snacks or medkits, he'd have to explain the numerous lightning burns he's gotten on his hands when running Zio through his body to attack shadows, all to Yosuke, because he's the only observant one if today proved anything.

He wishes he wouldn't have to be so desperate with his attacks, but as far as he knows, he's the only persona user around at the moment, and he hasn't even found the Velvet Room anywhere around Shibuya yet! “ _I could really use the advice from Margaret and Igor to know what I'm actually looking for here..._ ” Yu thought to himself before focusing back on Yosuke. His friend was scolding him about actually resting for once since he knows how busy he likes to be, and while he was trying to tune out most of the lecture, he's not wrong. It might have just been a habit from his last life originally, but being busy now tended to keep his mind from wandering off into thoughts of the future that was and what it could be now. Hopefully, the longer Yu spent in this timeline, the more he could grow accustomed to it and not try and regret the life he was forced to leave behind to save this one's future.

Yosuke must have noticed Yu dazing out for too long, because a quick pinch to his cheek makes him yelp while the other boy has a smug smirk on his face. “That's what you get when you're not paying attention, Yu-kun. I called your name like, four times.” The brunette teases as he rubs the area on his cheek where it was pinched. He retaliates by blowing Yosuke a raspberry, the two slowly laughing it off soon enough.

As the two talked more about their problems, the day grew dimmer, signaling the coming evening. Yosuke offered Yu a bike ride back to his place, but he declined, preferring his friend's presence more than an easier ride home. They chatted about the recent Featherman R episodes, and how cool it would be to pull off some of the moves they saw. Yu was smiling a bit more at the idea, since he knew what kind of moves Yosuke could pull off eventually when he learned of his persona and affinity with wind magic, and agreed that the two should practice some of those moves, all in a playful manner. And _**if**_ Yu bought some model kunais and let Yosuke _borrow them indefinitely_ , well, who's to say a little practice wouldn't help in the long run.

They were at their usual stop, where the two split to go home, when his friend pulled him aside to give him a hug. The very action made Yu's cheeks burn red since it was unexpected, but as they parted, Yosuke was also just as flustered, but then gave him a small bonk to the head with his hand.

“Just...take care of yourself, _Baka_ kami. I'm not always around to call you out when you're overdoing things, so take a break or something from whatever you're going out to do. If not for you, for me **at least**?” Yosuke begs before Yu feigns hurt from the new nickname, all before falling to an all-familiar smile.

“Fine, I'll consider it, just for you.”

-

**Monday, January 24 th, 2005**

**Narukami Residence**

**Shibuya, Tokyo**

That consideration came a lot sooner than he had planned it too, as he got a phone call from his mother when he got home. “ _Weird, she never calls from work.._ ” Yu thought as he pulled out the flip phone his parents bought him, really only used for emergencies at that time.

“Mom? Is everything okay?” He asked cautiously, removing his shoes and leaving them at the door as he walked towards the kitchen to grab himself a snack before he began his homework.

“[Yu, honey. It's good to hear you. Have you started your homework yet? How was school?]” She starts with pleasantries. He tries not to roll his eyes, this was usually what they did when they were telling him news that was always unpleasant to him, like that they were moving or, as of this timeline, had done something they didn't approve of.

He responds, careful with his words as to not tip off that he spent the evening with Yosuke rather than working on keeping his grades up via homework and extensive studying. The one nice thing about time-travel was that he was already prepared for almost every level of school up to university, so fifth-grade was a breeze. The worst he had to worry about was being a distraction towards Yosuke! Even then, if he ever struggled in a class, which he wasn't yet at least, Yu'd be sure to tutor him.

It was after his reply that his mother dropped the bomb on him.

“[Yu, sweetie. I don't know how to tell you this, but your father was offered a short business trip away from Shibuya for a week, and I have this conference out of Tokyo coming up this week as well.]” He could feel a headache coming along as both he and Izanagi were seething with annoyance. They're delaying the inevitable.

“[W-We know you're old enough to take care of yourself...]” Yu had to hold back a snort from that one. He could be living on his own at this point, but no one in their right mind would let a ten year old get a part-time job or pay rent. He'd make due for now, but he wasn't going to rely on his parents this time around, since he knew they'd never really get over their obsession over their careers and image to _really_ take care of him.

“[..but you're still recovering from that little fall down the stairs, so we need you to pack tonight.]” Yes, while he still had the bandage wrap around his head to prove he was still hurt from Izanagi's abrupt awakening, it wasn't that bad. Then again, they never really paid attention, so he could probably get away with the head injury excuse for a bit longer once it healed if he just continued to wrap his head. However, the packing bit, that was one he was not expecting.

“Pack tonight? For what mom?”

“[A-An unexpected trip! You're going to go see your uncle, in Inaba... Y-You remember him, right Yu?]”

He almost dropped the phone right there, but he had to stay strong! Though, he noticed that there was disdain in her voice when she mentioned Inaba, and then the added stuttering. This was a split-second decision they made, but he'd be taking full advantage of it!

“Y-Yeah mom! I remember him. Uncle Dojimi?” Yu asks with false innocence. He knows his uncle, maybe more than his own mom does with how she never brought up his existence until it was convenient. He could feel Izanagi sighing at his pettiness, but he's allowed to be upset! Yu spent the last timeline trying to get his parents attention and ultimately doing more harm than good with a lonesome childhood, so it's nice to be a bit more rebellious this time around by going out, making friends, everything his missed out on.

He could hear his mother laugh on the other side of the line, all at the fact he got his uncle's name wrong, so she could appreciate the joke at least. “[His last name is Dojima, Yu. Please try to remember that. You'll be staying with him for a week. Don't worry about your school, we've already let them know you'll be out this week and they'll have your work ready for you when you get back. Just behave and make a good impression, love you sweetie.]” The call cuts before he can even reciprocate back.

Yu stares down blankly at the phone in hand before he jumps for joy. Even Izanagi is nodding in agreement at how elated his user is.

“Home Izzy, we're going back home!” The silver-haired boy starts as he grips the phone in his hands tightly, as if it was a lifeline, a growing smile on his face that doesn't show any signs of dimming anytime soon. “If I knew an injury would get me to Inaba, even if it's just briefly, I would have done it the first time around!” Yu jokes before his other self shakes his head at the suggestion of that, even if he knows he's lying about such an idea.

“Think I can pack and call Yosuke at the same time?” He asks to air, his persona answering back with a silent agreement as the boy moves to dial Yosuke's number immediately and tell him the news as he rushes upstairs to pack.

Before calling, he thinks back to his shadow friend in the house television, he'd have to tell them as well and see about bringing back a present for when he's back. After all, the light-shadow was getting brighter each time he visited, if he kept it up, he's sure the shadow would actualize an actual body soon enough!

With that, Yu continues his trek upstairs to deliver the news and hastily pack. If he guessed right, his dad was probably going to see about getting him to an overnight train ride to keep him safe, so he'd be ready before his father made it back.

-

**Tuesday, January 25 th, 2005**

**Yasoinaba Station**

**Inaba**

Dreams of the Velvet Room limousine and a blue butterfly flying over his head filled his mind as the train clattered along the tracks. The train ride from Tokyo to Inaba had to more than eight hours, because by the time Yu woke up, he heard the intercom call out his stop.

_[“Now arriving at Yaso-Inaba..... Yaso-Inaba...”]_

The silver-haired boy stretched for a moment before grabbing his belongings and moving off the train. He was curious to how much the town of Inaba had changed from now to 2011, his official move here. As he stepped off the train platform, gray eyes scanned for around for his uncle. He didn't find anything, so he pulled out his phone from his backpack and dialed the new number his mom had given him before a voice called out to him.

“Hey! Over here!”

Yu turns around and finds the man he was looking for, Ryotaro Dojima, his uncle in the flesh. He looked a lot less rugged than he did in his past life, but this was also a younger Ryotaro, and he wasn't exactly supposed to meet him yet. He's actually a little glad that things are turning out different already as this gives him the opportunity to establish more bonds early on.

The boy's quick to walk over and greet him when he finally spots him. The two reach for a handshake, even if Yu pouts a bit internally because he has to be formal with his uncle again for a while, as the older man grins at him. “You're certainly more handsome than in your photo..” he starts, Yu smiling at the familiar introduction.

“Welcome to Inaba, I'm Ryotaro Dojima. I'll be looking after you for the week.” He continues before his uncle ponders how to introduce himself. He'll offer him an out this time around.

“You're my uncle, right? My mom's brother.”

The older man laughs back. Looks like he hadn't expected Yu to know who he was, and was genuinely surprised that he knew about his existence considering how little Yu's mother wanted to do with Inaba. “Her younger brother to be exact, that about sums it up.” he corrects as he takes a good look at Yu, the other studying him with doe gray eyes.

“You've grown since the last time I saw you. You might not remember me, but we've met before, back when you were a baby. I remember having to change your diapers before, you know?”

And with that, Yu's cheeks burn red. Of all the things to mention, he never forgets that one! He's grateful Nanako isn't here to hear it this time around so she wouldn't get second-hand embarrassment. He's half-tempted to take a page of out her book and slightly smack his uncle's side to move on and get off this topic, **now**! He holds off on that urge by just pouting at his uncle and puffing his cheeks childishly to get across that he doesn't exactly want to know that.

“...uncle...” Yu whines quietly as the older man laughs it off and holds out a hand to him.

“Let's get going, my car's over there, and there are still two people are waiting to meet you.”

He stops pouting momentarily to look out at the outreached hand, before taking it and smiling a bit again. “ _He's a lot more open than before.._ ” Yu thinks to himself as he lets himself be led off into the car and secured in the backseat.

-

**Tuesday, January 25 th, 2005**

**Dojima Residence**

**Inaba**

It wasn't too long until they reached the Dojima household. The house looked the same, maybe a bit more lived in, but the garden still wasn't built yet. “ _I'll set that up whenever Nanako asks.._ ” he hums to himself as his uncle leads him inside. He's immediately hit with the scent of food as Ryotaro openly calls out to someone. “I'm home!”

Just then, someone comes out from the kitchen, someone Yu never actually met in the original timeline... Her hair was long, pulled into a side plait, and was a warmer shade of brown than Nanako's. Her eyes were just as warm, more of an auburn color at that point, while she was wearing an ivory turtleneck and brown skirt, with a pale white apron over it all. She had looked a little frazzled as she appeared from the kitchen, but her smile was welcoming to the stunned Yu Narukami.

“Welcome home.”

Chisato. This was Chisato Dojima without a doubt, Nanako's mother and Dojima's late wife.

She then noticed the guest holding his uncle's hand, and tilted her head to the side a bit to get a better look at him. He could feel his cheeks burn as he moved to hide behind his uncle's legs. Yu wasn't prepared to meet her!

“So this is him, your nephew? He's quite the shy one.” She stated openly before moving closer to the pair at the entrance. “Hello Yu, my name's Chisato Dojima. I'm your aunt.” she greets as he's left to reply.

“....'lo.”

Yu feels like kicking himself, but he barely could get a word out with how nervous he felt. That moment was shattered when a cry came from the living room and both Dojimas looked at each other before his aunt ran over to the source while his uncle stayed with him. “C'mon kiddo. Let's get you settled in the guest room for the week.” he started as Chisato came back, holding a bundle of blankets in her arms.

“We can't let him go by without greeting his little cousin.” she says warmly as she lowers her arms a bit to let him peer inside the blankets.

That gets his attention immediately as he sets his belongings down on the floor and steps closer. He looks up at Chisato, his gray eyes filled with a mixture of nervousness and joy as he stares at her first for permission. With a slight nod of her head, she smiles warmly and moves away some of the blankets so he can see the clear face of a baby. She's got dark brown hair and bright brown eyes as she looks over at Yu, feeling both his and Izanagi's very core of their souls melt for a moment.

“Say hello to Nanako, Yu.”

He reaches a single finger out to her to just pet the top of her head, but the baby quickly grabs at his finger with his hand and giggles in delight. Yu feels his own eyes well up with tears as he holds back silent sobs and gazes at the happy baby. As the tears are starting to roll down his cheeks, he looks over to his his aunt and uncle for support of any kind. However, Chisato looks to be smiling warmly, knowing that he must be entranced with the little one in her arms, while Ryotaro rolls his eyes and chuckles.

“She has that effect on people.” His uncle jokes as he walks over and puts a hand at his shoulder. “You can see her in a bit. Let's go get you cleaned up and settled in first.”

Yu doesn't protest as he's pulled away from Nanako, but he instead tries to rub away the tears in an effort not to embarrass himself more than he already had. He really wishes he had a better control of his emotions like he did when he was older last timeline, but when it comes down to the little girl who dubbed him “big bro”, he's weak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, first of all, thank you so much for the 1.1 k hits now everyone! Everything from the hits, the kudos, the bookmarks and subscriptions, and especially the comments, all help keep me going with this fic. I sure hope you guys are in for the long haul for it though since we've got to get from P3 to P5!
> 
> Secondly, I am super sorry about the wait! University is hitting hard especially with how my classes forced all online again. I'm having to go through the process of getting refunds and dealing with my classes being in the house. Hopefully, I'll find some balance to this mess eventually, but I'll do my best to keep delivering chapters as fast I can get them out because there's so much I want to do with this fic.
> 
> Thirdly, how's the new formatting? I know everything seems a lot clearer to read on my other fics when I'm not spacing them out to hell and back, but is it better for you guys? Also, how are the little line breaks? I've been using them to try and signify that I'm switching from one limited third-person POV to another, or a jump in time or "fast traveling" to a new location. Let me know what you guys think with reviews and kudos!
> 
> ~Til next chapter everyone, Phoe out~
> 
> PS - Big shout out to reviewer "eeeeeeeeeeeeeee" from Chapter 6 in telling me about the kind of science behind evokers, plumes of darkness, and the Dark Hour. You made me want to bring in some drawbacks to using a persona in reality without an evoker, so F in the chat for Yu til he meets SEES and gets one. Also, we're giving Yu some drawbacks to just being a kid again, hence more likely to get injuries, harder to reel in his emotions, etc, minor things, but just to make him realize he's not the same as he was before, he's still Yu just more vulnerable and all.. (:D)


	8. Like a Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe staying up for the Dark Hour multiple nights in a row wasn't the smartest thing to do in hindsight, but it was enough to convince his parents to send him to Inaba briefly while they're off on a business trip! With Yu staying at the Dojima Household for a week, he takes that break he promised Yosuke he'd take, and finds solace in the calm moments Inaba has to offer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently unbeta'd.  
>  **-In need of beta readers-**

**Tuesday, January 25 th, 2005**

**Dojima Residence**

**Inaba**

Yu looked outside the window of the guest room, listlessly gazing at part of the town in front of the house. He didn't think he'd end up back in Inaba so soon, much less back with his uncle Dojima and Nanako, but he never anticipated meeting the late Dojima Chisato. She's certainly a match for his uncle with how much he's changed since the last time he saw him, and is very family-oriented if she took to him so quickly. Or maybe that's just how family is supposed to act? He tries not to dwell on that thought for too long.

He lets out a sigh of relief and thought back to Yosuke's words on him getting a break. This may not have been what he meant, but he's going to take full advantage of it before he goes back to his usual routine. Yu walks over to his bag and starts to unpack his belongings, taking out the model katana and his bag for shadow-activity and stashing them into the back of the closet. He really didn't want to explain to his uncle and aunt about why he had them, but it was better to be prepared.

As Yu began to move his clothes for the week into one of the drawers, a gentle rap to the door is heard before it's opened slightly and his uncle peers in.

“You settling in okay? If you need me to move anything, just ask.” he offers as the boy shakes his head.

“No thanks, everything is great. It's cozy.”

“Alright, I'll leave you to it.”

His uncle begins to walk away before looking back at Yu and sighing. “Hey, I'm sorry that your parents just...dumped you here, out in the middle of nowhere. There may not be much to do here, but it's home to us.” He states as he rubs the back of his head. Dojima's looks over Yu carefully, his eyes drawn to the bandages wrapped around his nephew's head. He'd want answers later most likely.

“It's okay. I-I prefer this to being home alone...” Yu answers back quietly, turning to look back out the window at the scenery. “And besides, I got to meet you, my aunt, and Nanako, just by coming. I think this week will be just fine. After all, I'm not left on my own for once.” He hums contently unaware of how his uncle is taking this news.

“Yu...why don't you go see if Chisato needs any help with dinner or with keeping Nanako entertained?”

With that, he snaps out of his thoughts to try and answer back, doing his best to hide his confusion as it was a sudden request, but he wouldn't mind helping with either. Yu returns a small smile as he leaves the room. “Okay.”

As the door closes behind him, he swore he could hear the sound of a phone dialing. While he may be curious, it could also just be his work calling. After all, his uncle had always been a detective, hadn't he?

-

The familiar waft of homecooked food filled the air as the silver-haired boy stepped downstairs. There, Chisato was working in the kitchen while Nanako was playing on a baby blanket playmat, toys hanging over her head. He really wanted to dote on her, or at least take a picture or two, but it would be important to ask Chisato and Dojima first. She didn't look more than a year old after all, so they're still going to be very protective over her.

As he reaches the final step of the stairs, Chisato spots him out of the corner of her eyes and waves at him with a smile. He returns with a shy smile of his own as he walks towards the kitchen. “Uncle Dojima said you might need some help, so I wanted to ask if you needed anything.” he politely requests as his aunt looks between the stove top with a pot and pan cooking the food for the croquette curry, then back at Yu.

“Do you know how to cook?”

He nods back as he looks over to the meal in progress. “Are you making croquettes?”

“Good eye, I'm making curry croquettes to be exact. Let's see...”

She smiles softly at the request, and then moves to grab a cutting board and a bag of rice. They'd need side dishes after all. His aunt holds out both to him and laughs softly. “Pick whichever you'd like. We'll need some rice and vegetables to serve our celebratory curry.”

“What makes it a celebration?”

Chisato grins playfully as she sets both items to the side island counter top for Yu to pick out, then pats his head softly. “Well, you're here.”

He could already feel a few tears welling in his eyes from that, but tries to rub them away quickly so he can get to work. With the compliment in mind, Yu looks back up at his aunt with determination and smiles back. “Let's get started then!”

His aunt chuckles at his enthusiasm then points to the sink. “Not until you wash your hands first.”

-

The day had been calm. After he and Chisato finished cooking, he was sent up to call his uncle to the table, while his aunt put Nanako to bed at that point, having eaten earlier. He watched as his aunt was placing food down on the table than the one over at the television, the small action making him smile to himself. They ate dinner together once his uncle came down, and as they ate they asked questions about how he and his parents were, and how it is different it was being in Inaba compared to Tokyo. Yu answered most of the questions about himself with zealous, describing his newfound friendship with Yosuke and their walks to and from school, and a “foreign friend” who didn't speak much but loved learning new things about Tokyo. He would give vague answers about his parents, as he still never saw much of them, nor did they choose to spend time with him often, even after his accident. Then came the question he was regretting the most.

“Speaking of your accident, do you mind telling us how it happened?” his uncle asks.

Yu flushes out of embarrassment, wanting to scold his persona internally for causing it, but it needed to happen. If it hadn't he wouldn't be there with the Dojimas, enjoying a dinner together in a warm atmosphere, and just not be alone. He chooses to be as honest as he can be **without** mentioning the existence of personas.

“It's embarrassing...but I tripped down the stairs. I thought I heard something downstairs and wanted to check in case, but I slipped as I was walking down.”

He can feel his uncle raising his eyebrow in suspicion, not believing that was the full story, but luckily Chisato is as much of a peacemaker as Nanako will be.

“Don't interrogate your own nephew Ryo.. I'm sure whatever it was, it must have been scary for you enough to want to go and check.” she chides softly before offering a small smile back to Yu. He'll happily take the out instead of being on display for his uncle's detective skills and nods along.

“The hospital I woke up was scarier.” He answered, no doubt in his mind about that one from the hellish night and subsequent five days of punishment after. Yu looks down at the food and whispers quietly. “..C-Can we not talk about it anymore?”

And they obliged, moving onto a much lighter subjects.

-

**Thursday, January 27 th, 2005**

**Dojima Residence**

**Inaba**

After his first night back in Inaba, Yu situated himself into the daily routine of the Dojima Household as best as he could. Yesterday morning, his uncle and aunt woke up around 7 am to have breakfast and take care of a crying Nanako. They greeted each other and got ready for the day. He didn't come out of the room until 7:20 that morning, enjoying the quiet sunrise that Inaba had to offer. When he did come downstairs, they made an effort to have breakfast together, with his aunt cooking breakfast and his uncle handling the coffee. He did take notice to how his aunt actually did have cream with her coffee, just like he had, but since they still were getting to know him, they'd usually served him juice with his breakfast. Once they finished eating, his uncle had packed up and set off to work, leaving before 8:30 am.

With only Nanako and his aunt left in the house, Yu played with his baby cousin in the living room to tire her out to her first nap of the day, then asked to help out with the household chores. Afterwards, Chisato rested whenever Nanako took her second nap, so he took the opportunity to relax by watching TV at a low enough volume to pass the time. By the time his uncle came back, Chisato and Yu were working on dinner, his aunt excited to teach him new recipes after he had asked to help him out again.

Today, after that short resting period, Chisato had asked if he'd like to come with her and Nanako on a walk around the town and to shop for some groceries. He didn't even give it a second-thought before agreeing and going up to his borrowed room to change. Pulling out a jacket and some sneakers, Yu put both on and looked at himself in the mirror, smiling into it. He was getting used to his younger self again, finding it easier to express his emotions, both a blessing and a curse depending on the situation. He could hear his aunt calling for him, and turned back to leave the room.

“Coming!”

**Thursday, January 27 th, 2005**

**Central Shopping District**

**Inaba**

“ _So this is what the shopping district was like before Junes.._ ” Yu thought as they walked through. It was a lot livelier, with more shops open than before. He recognized others like the Shiroku Store, Daidara's Metalworks, Marukyu Tofu, and Tatsumi Textiles. His gray eyes were practically shining the entire time as he got experience the shopping district in a new light. His attitude obviously entertained Chisato as she giggled softly, pushing the stroller Nanako was in as they walked together.

“If you want, you can go take a walk around. I can go buy the groceries myself with Nana to keep me company.” She offers, making Yu look back and shake his head.

“I came to help first. B-Besides, I'm here for the week right, until Monday night. I don't want all of what Inaba has to offer spoiled in one day.”

His response was enough to satisfy her, as she gave a slight nod before moving forward to lead him. Along the way, she asked about what he'd want for dinner that night, and he asked if there was enough for katsudon. There hadn't been, but that didn't stop them from buying the ingredients for it for dinner.

Once they finished shopping, Chisato led him and Nanako over to the Tatsuhime Shrine. It looked more or less the same, but the offering box and grounds of the shrine looked well-maintained for the time. His aunt looks to him and smiles warmly. “Do you mind watching Nanako for just a second? I want to go just make this last stop, then we can head back to the house.” she asks as he looks back to his baby cousin, napping in the stroller and nods. She laughs softly and pets his head, prompting him to flush a light pink from his cheeks.

“Thank you Yu.”

He watches as she walks over to grab an ema, write something on it, then set it up and pray. Chisato leaves a small amount of money as an offering before rushing back to the two children and grins. “I'm sorry, I just had to do it before I forget.” she offers for an explanation. He's about to answer before he spots a familiar fox waiting on the outer area of the shrine. Yu shakes his head with a soft laugh and looks back up at his aunt.

“No, I'm sure whatever you wrote **will** come true.”

-

**Friday, January 28 th, 2005**

**Dojima Residence**

**Inaba**

Yu dreamt of a memory from his past timeline Thursday night. It had been the summer festival, and he dreams of the experience of going to watch the fireworks with his close friends and family, all up on a hill. He remembers how brightly they had shined, and how much fun everyone had that night, and how happy he had felt that night. After the final, and loudest firework, he could feel himself being forcefully slipped away from the dreamscape. He could feel his body being pulled away to the darkness and watched as his hand faded fast from Nanako's, all to awaken in reality, gasping for air.

A quick check over himself reminds him that he's not _that_ Yu Narukami anymore, and that he'll be a different one this time around because he knows of what's to come, that it won't be the same. Somehow, that thought upsets him more as he balls his fists into the bedsheets and cries to himself silently, listening to quiet comforts from his other self in a hope to calm down.

Yu had woken up around 6 am from that, and didn't feel comfortable enough to go downstairs until 8 am that Friday morning.

-

After that episode, the boy tried to avoid mirrors to avoid the reminder of that dream. It wasn't that he wasn't comfortable in his body, but just that it didn't feel like him compared to how he had felt yesterday. That joy he felt as he was walking down the shopping district yesterday....He longs for that same feeling this morning if it meant ignoring that harsh slap of reality the dream gave him.

He walks downstairs to find his uncle still there and not rushing out the door, with his aunt over tending to Nanako, all before both notice him coming down. He's still in his pajamas at that point, too tired to change them at the moment.

“Good morning.” They call out as he responds with a quiet “..'morning..” back, rubbing at one of his eyes, trying to make sure that the tear streaks had gone away fully. He didn't want them to know.

Unfortunately for him, both adults look to each other and confirm silently that the boy was out of it this morning. Chisato decides that it's a good time to bring up the surprise they had in mind today at that point, hoping it would cheer him up. She starts by bringing over a plate of breakfast that morning over to him on the table and takes her seat, looking over him before asking softly.

“How are you feeling today?”

“..okay..” he mumbles quietly, staring at the food, not touching it yet.

“You know, your uncle got the day off today and Saturday, so would you be up for going out today?”

That one gets his attention as he looks up at her instead of at his food now.

“Where?”

They got him. This time, his uncle takes the lead, taking a sip of his coffee and clearing his voice to get Yu's attention.

“We usually go to over to the Samegawa Floodplain for a picnic once every few months or so, **but** since your visit's a special occasion, we were thinking of going today. Would you be interested?”

Something about that made a dormant memory itch, but Yu really wanted a distraction that day enough to push that to the side. He musters up a small but sad smile and nods. “If you'd let me, yes.”

Chisato grins in delight as she stands up, pushing her chair back to move away from the table. “In that case, I'll start on the boxed lunches!” She states as Ryotaro chuckles at her action with endearment, turning to look out the window.

“Guess I should go get the car packed up then.” he mutters to himself.

Nanako decides to chime in with a happy shout of nonsense from her baby seat at the dining table, making Yu smile earnestly at her. “ _She's so cute.._ ” he thought to himself, then looking over at the adults who were busy prepping for the day ahead of them. “ _Looks like fun_. _..I can't wait._ ” he thought before looking over at his aunt and uncle.

“Is there anyway I can help?”

-

**Friday, January 28 th, 2005**

**Samegawa Floodplain**

**Inaba**

Once everything was packed up and inside his uncle's car, they piled into the car. He and Nanako were in the backseats, but she was napping in her baby seat, unaware where they were going. As his uncle drove along, he watched the town pass him by from the car seat, a small smile on his face as he focuses on the moving town than the reflection in the window.

It wasn't too long before they arrived at the riverbank. Soon enough, they parked the car and Yu was left holding onto the folded stroller as his aunt was pulling Nanako out the car seat to secure her in the stroller. At one point, she struggled to get the stroller open, so Chisato handed Nanako to him and he just watched as his aunt strong-armed the folded-up stroller. It was entertaining to say the least, or it was when explaining to his uncle when he stopped moving things out of the car to watch the sight alongside him, a few chuckles coming out here and there.

Eventually, his uncle decided to bail him and Nanako out by grabbing the blanket and the baby playmat they'd brought along and asked Yu to keep a firm hold on Nanako to follow him. Once seated on a set up picnic blanket overseeing the riverbank, he could hear commotion in the back from his uncle and aunt both working on the stuck stroller, but his attention was on his baby cousin in his arms. The boy set her down on her playmat and changed to laying position to play along with her, occasionally jiggling one of the toys on it to grab her attention, and conversing with her even if all she could do was babble nonsense for now. Currently, he was playing with a rattling pom pom, shaking it for her to grab it.

“Come on Nanako, you can do it.” he cheers on as he watches her waving her arms up trying to reach it, having lost interest in another noisemaking toy as Yu moved onto this one. She gurgled in her attempts to grab it, prompting Yu to pull it closer for her hands.

“Almost there.”

She finally latches onto it and begins chewing on it, making him laugh as he let go fully for her to play with for a while before he grabs another to get her attention.

“Nice job Nana..”

“ **Yu!** ”

Yu looks over to the voice that calling him, brushing back some silver strands of hair to get a clear look at his aunt and uncle. The two were finally coming over with the picnic box, a fabric baby carrier, but no stroller.

“No luck?”

Their silence and embarrassed looks gave him an answer as he gave a sympathetic smile to them as they took their seats next to him.

“No luck. We'll be better prepared next time. We did get everything in the car in a rush after all.” Ryotaro sighs as Chisato rolls her eyes playfully.

“Enough of that boys, why don't we start what we came for and dig in!” She exclaims as she offers the picnic box, opening it to reveal the various foods inside. Both he and his uncle are drooling a bit as she laughs at their reactions, and then moving to grab the baby bottle to feed Nanako while he and his uncle gawk at the food.

It wasn't long before they were all digging in, the peaceful atmosphere of the Samegawa Riverbank making the picnic all the more enjoyable.

-

After lunch, Yu was allowed to wander around the riverbank as long as he stayed in their line of sight. He spotted a familiar old man nearby the fishing hole he remembers using before. He chats up the man, knowing he could probably use his fishing rod for the afternoon if he played the curious child.

It worked like a charm, as the man starts to show him proper stances for fishing, and tips about baits, even letting him try out his fishing rod for himself. Unfortunately, Yu forgets that that he's younger, and thus weaker, making it harder to reel in fish like the Inaba Trout and Amber Seema. He nearly falls into the water when a particularly large fish pulls at the fishing line, panicking his uncle and aunt in the distance as the old man helps him lose the large fish. He manages to catch a Red Goldfish, which is impressive for his _first time._ When he was done and thanked the old man for his time and lessons, and returns over to the Dojima family, where he gets lightly scolded by his uncle for not being careful as his aunt shares a similarly disappointed look.

They don't end up grilling him for long, as they offer him some desserts from the picnic box. Yu enthusiastically takes two cookies before he shows off the fish, telling them about how he's hoping to give it to a stray cat. They laugh it off and insist they aren't any nearby, and he decides to prove that there's bound to be one nearby.

He barely leaves their line of sight and walks up the stairway and spots a large tabby cat, eerily familiar to the one he used to feed before, and walks over slowly to offer it the Red Goldfish. It looks at him with distrust before spotting the fish, mewling at him for it. He leaves places the fish down for the cat and it moves forward to grab it, staring at the boy for a moment before coming over to rub against his legs for a few seconds before pouncing off. With a grin on his face, he glances at the stunned Ryotaro and amused Chisato, and then looks back, waving bye to the cat that ran off before joining back with the Dojimas to enjoy the rest of the afternoon together.

-

The day of the picnic had ended smoothly, and helped his mood improve immensely for the remainder of the week. Whenever he did doubt his place in this new timeline, he'd often go look for his aunt just to talk over the issue vaguely, or play with Nanako whenever she was awake, both activities often easing his nerves.

He did attempt to see if the Midnight Channel would show on that Friday evening, but his body refused to acknowledge his attempts at staying awake and he dozed off several times sitting up and staring at the television set on the bed. Yu gave up after the seventh attempt, his eyelids slowly shutting as he collapsed on the bed and fell asleep in an unusual position. He had back pain the next morning as a consequence.

-

**Saturday, January 29 th, 2005**

**Okina Station**

**Okina City**

On Saturday, they had an outing to Okina City and stopped by various stores. Chisato insisted on buying him something from Croco Fur, and he only accepted because she used the excuse that she had been looking for something for herself originally, so it would be fair. His uncle eventually had to come inside and intervene by dragging her out of there, leaving a pile of clothes in her wake. Yu took one look at the damage his aunt had done and thanked whatever possessed his uncle to come in and save him from that nightmare, swiftly walking out of the changing room after. He did grab an accessory or two, one of which being a red rose pin for his shadow friend, and a yellow scarf for Yosuke, which he paid for using a portion of his nightly excursion's stash. He couldn't splurge here since he did plan to visit the shopping district before leaving.

After Croco Fur, they passed by the 30 Frame Theater, where they had planned to take him next, but he couldn't recognize any films showing there and they had Nanako to fret over, so they decided against it.

However, upon spotting the familiar UFO catcher machines by the theater, he did go try his luck at it. Two-thousand yen and various weak battle items later, he was the proud owner of a Black Frost doll. Grinning all the while, he was unaware of the reactions by his aunt and uncle, where Chisato shook her head at the waste of money while Ryotaro facepalmed at his blatant disregard for the rigged machine, both thinking it would have been easier to find at a toy store.

They stopped Yu from gambling away more money at the machines once his attention turned to the second UFO Catcher. Both caught the mischievous glint in his gray eyes in time as the boy moved in to start it up again. Pouting as he was pulled away, he swore he'd get another of the grand prizes another time, since he planned to give one to Yosuke, but then had nothing for his shadow friend nor one for himself.

While waiting for the train back to Inaba, they stopped by Cafe Chagall. He wanted to get an _Owner's Original Blend_ , but was promptly denied by both Dojimas. Their reasoning had been “that it would be too much for him at this age” and “maybe when he's older”. He wanted to argue, but he knew the after-effects the blend would have on him even when he had been sixteen. To oblige, he stayed quiet and ordered a lighter blend of coffee. It was then Yu realized that his taste buds were different from before, making even the lighter blend of coffee much more bitter to him. He was thankful he had at least asked for cream in it to ease up the flavor.

Even with the coffee in his system, Yu still couldn't stay up until midnight and fell asleep around 10:30 pm that night.

-

**Monday, January 30 th, 2005**

**Dojima Residence**

**Inaba**

Sunday had come and gone, not being particularly interesting as his uncle returned to work that day. He was left with Nanako for a while when his uncle had left the house without lunch, making Chisato have to walk over to the police station to deliver it for him. Yu didn't have much trouble because his baby cousin had been asleep for most of the time, though he kept eyeing the door with suspicion. By the time his aunt returned home, he was rescued from a waking Nanako, as she was tugging at his hair as he laid on the floor next to her. The rest of the passed quickly as he helped Chisato with any chores around the house, then offering to make dinner that night, and getting permission to do so. They had omurice that night, both his uncle and aunt left impressed that he actually managed to cook something delicious at such a young age. Their reaction had made him grin with pride, that silly grin lasting til he went to bed that night.

Monday morning had been the same as the past few days, where he got up and had breakfast alongside the Dojimas, then later wishing his uncle a good day at work with his aunt. Once he was out of the door, Chisato giggled to herself before looking down at Yu.

“Yu, remember how you asked about visiting the shopping district by yourself a few days ago?” she asked softly as she walked away from the doorway over to Nanako's side.

“Yes..?”

Before picking up Nanako, she pulls out a small envelope from the pocket of her half-apron, and hands it over to the boy. He stares at it, then glances at his aunt, who just nods back, silently encouraging him to open it. Opening it curiously, he finds at least five-thousand yen inside, leaving him stunned.

“Don't spend it all in one place, okay? Have fun today! After all, it's your last day here this time.” Chisato encourages as she moves to take care of his baby cousin, who's preoccupied by the toys hanging over her head. He's out the door after bowing and thanking her for the chance to explore the town, the chance to see Inaba as he remembers it.

-

**Monday, January 30 th, 2005**

**Central Shopping District**

**Inaba**

If anyone noticed the silver-haired boy sprinting from the Dojima household over to the Central Shopping District, they would have seen the excited glint in his eyes, or the confidence in every step he took, maybe even the small smile that told a thousand words.

Yu took his opportunity to stop by all of the locations he could, both new and old. From the bookstore, he picked up some books that could help with expression, understanding and courage. He asked about any workbooks from beginner subjects like math and language, using the excuse that it was for a younger sibling of his, but he planned on going along all those books with his shadow friend awaiting him back in Tokyo. If they were going to have a form soon, they'd need all the help they could get to learn about humans before Yu would even think of letting them over to his side.

His next stop had been over at the Shiroku Store, stockpiling supplies for his next excursion to the nightmare hour after midnight, but that wouldn't be for some time as his body felt more and more strained with each call to Izanagi during it. He'd have to continue his break for a little while longer after this trip, because five days couldn't repair two weeks worth of damage to his own mind and body. At the least, Yu's thankful for his deep connection to his persona, as it was easy to reach out to him from the depths of his soul whenever he needed him, and in turn, his other self alerted him to when he was overexerting himself and his body during battle. In the end, Old Lady Shiroku lets him run off with medicine, dokudami tea, and a Goho-M at a steep discount after noticing the boy wasn't from around town.

His next stop was going to be Daidara's Metalworks, but he wasn't allowed to do much other than browse, as “ _..a child wouldn't understand the beauty of his wares.._ ” as Master Daidara put it. Yu never felt more jealous about his older self than he did at that moment, being able to buy weapons without any questions about the uses for them. At least he was willing to take a look at the materials he had collected from his nightly excursions and declared he'd buy it all in order to make new merchandise from all of it. He came out at least three thousand yen richer, but at the cost of his pride.

However, he looks longingly over at the area between Daidara's and the bookstore, missing the familiar translucent blue door that always awaited him before. He quickly checks in his pockets in a panic, looking for the item in question. At the touch of the Velvet Room key hiding inside his pockets, he feels relief. Maybe he couldn't see them today, but he's sure they'll meet again soon.

As he was stepping away from the Metalworks shop to check out Marukyu Tofu to see about getting some for his last dinner with the Dojima Family, a young girl's voice loudly called out to him.

“Hey?”

Yu's attention was more focused on holding all the items he's purchased so far with the empty messenger bag now being filled once more. He had been attempting to put all the items in his bag, resting against a light pole as he noticed steps moving closer to him.

“Hey, don't ignore me!”

He moves to face the person in front of him. It was a young girl dressed in an orange blouse and white skirt. Her copper hair was held up into twin pigtails by pink pearl hair ties, while her dark brown eyes, hidden behind a pair of pink reading glasses, stared right through him. Judging by her pouting, maybe he had done something wrong?

“Um..hello?” he asks in confusion, the girl's expression lightened up once she got a response out of him.

“Can I hang out with you? You look like you're having fun.”

That was unexpected. Yu tilts his head to the side a bit, trying to see what she was really getting at.

“I'm just here to shop.” he answers briefly before she shakes his head and grabs his free arm in a panic.

“Please! I really just...need to be around someone right now. These boys like to pick on at school because I don't have any friends, so I lied and said I had a boyfriend! Now they won't leave me alone til they see him!” She pleaded, beginning to tear up and cry into his shirt, leaving him in an awkward position.

He sighed and tried to soothe her by gently patting the smaller girl's head. “And you're asking me to help because of what? I'm pretty sure there are other boys here you could hang out with instead of me..”

“'Cause I've never seen you around before! And if I haven't seen you before, those boys won't know you either. Please!”

He was trapped. If he left this girl alone, she'd be at the mercy of these mystery boys, but if he did this, he's sure his shopping would be cut short. Then he got an idea.

“How well do you know the town?”

The young girl stopped crying, looking up at him with bright eyes and proud smile.

“Like the back of my hand! So you really aren't from here? Great! I'll show you the best parts of town!” She cheers, excitement barely hidden in her voice.

It was official, he'd be helping out this girl until the end of the day. Yu didn't have the heart to tell her he knew his way around, but maybe she really could show Inaba in a newer light since some places around didn't exist yet or were closed in the past. He just hopes his uncle doesn't catch him with her, because he does not need merciless teasing from him and Chisato when he returns today. By giving up the struggle on his former free hand, she's happily holding it with both of her own, sticking by his side with a smile on her face while her cheeks turned rosy.

“I-I'm holding hands with a boy, _ahah_.. **Yes**! I did it!” She cheers, making Yu roll his eyes playfully at her antics. It was cute in a childish sort of way, so he decided to go with the flow and let her lead the way.

“I'm all _yours_...” he teases in an alluring tone, all for the purpose of flustering her more. The red rapidly growing on the girl's face was absolutely worth being cheesy. Laughing into the hand that held his bag of purchases, he ignored the flustered whines of the girl at his side as they walked along the shopping district.

-

She showed him all over the shopping district as promised. The girl was taking him to various shops, greeting the shopkeepers who then greeted her back and asked about the boy she was with. When they went to Marukyu Tofu, because he told her he wanted to get some for dinner tonight, they gave him extra, “ _on the house for the mystery boy_ ” is all he got when he tried to pay more. All he knew was the girl he was with looked pleased when he gave up and accepted the extra.

Eventually, he finally got to stop by Tatsumi Textiles and was trying to find a scarf and gloves for himself. He was until he heard squeals behind him, and looked over to check what was going on with his guide.

“C-Cute!!” she stuttered out as she pointed to these pink silk ribbons with white lace at the edge of them. Checking the price of it and then what he had remaining from his aunt, he wouldn't be able to afford the items he'd been eyeing, but he could live with that. He would come back to Inaba again, eventually...

“You want it?”

The girl squeaked when Yu came up behind her, but then looked back over at the ribbons and furiously shook her head. “I-I have ribbons at home...I don't need them.” she muttered, looking away from him in embarrassment over getting worked up for them.

By the time she looked back over at Yu, he had already grabbed them and was paying for them with Miss Tatsumi. After an exchange of thank-you's, he had walked back over and held the bag holding the ribbons out to her.

“Too late.” he joked, cracking a slight grin at her.

Taking the bag from him, her cheeks continued to glow a gentle pink as she looked over them and then at Yu. She smiled softly as she moved to undo her pigtails with the plastic pearl hairties, and try and put the ribbons on immediately.

“What do you think?” she asks bashfully, looking away from him shyly as she awaited his opinion.

“They're uneven.” he stated bluntly, frustrating her immediately.

The young girl was about to start whining that he should be nicer to her until she noticed him coming closer. She had shut her eyes in panic, unaware that Yu was actually just fixing them. He had enough practice with Nanako before anyways.

“There. You can open your eyes now.”

She spotted the ends of the ribbons flying near the top of her head, her pigtails held up high and proud by them with them tied up like bows. The girl moved her hand to run through her new hairstyle, then fiddle with the ends of the ribbons. “You fixed them?”

He nodded nonchalantly.

The action certainly spoke louder than his words, as she giggles and moves to hug onto him. “Thank you!” she exclaimed as the boy tried to steady both of them after her sudden leap to hug onto him. When she noticed he was having trouble keeping them up, she let go abruptly and settled on smiling at him and taking his hand again, a pink tint still visible on her cheeks.

“Can I take you to one last place?”

Figuring it can't hurt considering how long he's been out already, he agrees and lets himself be pulls around elsewhere once again.

When Yu decides to pay attention to his surroundings again, he notices they're somewhere in between the way from the Samegawa Floodplain and Amagi Inn if he remembers properly. They're not too far away from the park, and wonders if that's where she wanted to take him. She leads him up a stairway and he follows, finding himself on a hill overlooking a portion of Inaba. It's not exactly a secluded spot, but it's less out in the open than most places.

“We're here.” she whispers as she lets go of Yu's hand and gestures for him to follow him up to the wood railing. He obliges.

-

“I love to come here. It's quiet, and not too many people pass by here. It's where I come practice singing and dancing.” She admits with a sad smile. “I love doing it so much, but I don't think I'll ever really be good enough to be...anything.”

“Why not?”

“B-Because! First of all, I'm scared of being in front of other people. Then, I-I just don't look special at all! I'm just...me. I'm too scared to even tell off my bullies, and then came up with a lie to look pretend I'm not all alone. I even dragged a random boy from the street just to hang out with me, to pretend to be my boyfriend! To pretend that I'm someone that I'm not..” She trails off and looks out to the view in front of them.

“Yu.”

She faces him once more in confusion, only seeing a small smile awaiting her from the boy.

“My name is Yu, Narukami Yu. There. I'm not just a _random boy_ anymore.” he offers, before moving closer to hold her hand this time, flustering her when she had just been moments away from tearing up in frustration.

“I-I'm Rise...Kujikawa Rise.”

“Rise-chan, why don't you try singing for me?”

“W-What?! B-But I'll just embarrass myself and make you have to watch and--!!” she starts to say in objection, but a gentle squeeze to her hand brings her back to reality.

“Don't say that. Bringing yourself down won't make things better. You love to do it, right? Just, focus on that passion then and close your eyes. Let your heart take the lead for once.”

She's shivering, terrified to even think about singing for another person that isn't family, the people who grew up watching her blunders and seeing her improve. By taking a few deep breathes to calm down, guided by this strange boy she came across, Yu, and focusing on her passion for singing, she opens her mouth and begins to sing.

-

During her entire performance, she's squeezing tightly onto his hand, like a lifeline, as Yu watches with contentment. He still couldn't believe he couldn't put it together that he came across Rise of all people, much less, a less confident and lonelier version of herself. As he listens, he thinks back to his conversations with her before, one where they'd been on a hill, overlooking the town, under a wooden gazebo.

[“ _I was actually bullied at school before I made my debut... I wasn't good at talking, and I always looked at my feet. I was alone the entire time..._

_But I didn't have a problem with that. No one expected anything out of me._

_And then...an application my relative sent without telling me passed the first audition._

_I wasn't interested in being an idol, but I wanted the chance to change myself...”_ ]

Those insecurities, her fears, doubts and loneliness, he could see them in the girl that opened up to him here on his overlook. However, as she was singing right there and then to him, he didn't feel anything of those things. He instead saw the passion and emotion behind her voice, almost as if he could see the confident and strong idol Rise had become when she was older.

[ _“...Then I thought, if I appeared on TV...I could make friends..._

 _That was literally the only reason I went through with it..”_ ]

This Rise, she'd have to go through a lot more, but if he could help her out right now, even if it was a little bit, he'd do it. After all, she was part of the friends he made here in Inaba, the ones that truly brought him to life.

He waited for her to finish, slipping out of her hold to give her an applause as loud as he could for one person, flustering her.

“That was incredible. You're incredible.” He emphasizes with a soft smile on his face. “Don't ever give up, okay? You're going to be something amazing, I know it. If you lose sight of that, I'll try to help get it back. That's what friends do after all.”

“...friends..?”

Yu offers a gentle nod to confirm it. “Yup, friends...”

Rise doesn't say much after that, looking stunned at the fact someone actually believed in her, much less wanted to be her friend. Her eyes began to tear up and she ran right towards him again. He just opened his arms and embraced what was coming, letting her get it all out in the peaceful bubble they made here.

_Thou art I... And I am thou_

_Thou hast established a new bond..._

_~~_

_It brings thee closer to the truth_

_that shall freeth a distorted future..._

_~~_

_With the blessing of the Lovers Arcana_

_thou obtained a power of the heart_

_that shall strengthen thy resolve..._

_-_

They go their separate ways sometime afterwards. It didn't take that much courage as before to ask her for her phone number. She admits she only has the house phone to call from, so he ends up handing her his cell phone number, promising to give her a call when he's back in Tokyo. Rise leaves in higher spirits despite her new friend having to leave so soon, but he hopes the new bond dwelling within his soul will only grow as time goes on.

He feels exhausted by the time he enters the Dojima Residence, waving over at his aunt and uncle sleepily and handing them the tofu he'd gotten earlier for them to use for dinner before he wanders off to the guest room after a quick “..goodnight”. Yu would have an early 5 am train the next day to head back to Tokyo with, so they didn't take his brief greetings harshly. He dozes off on the bed rather quickly, pondering on the idea of how these versions of Yosuke and Rise would interact with each other without the pretenses of being _Risette_ and the _Prince of Junes_. He came to the conclusion that she'd probably be brought into their little friend group without a second thought, making him smile as he falls to another dreamless slumber.

-

**Tuesday, January 31 st, 2005**

**Dojima Residence**

**Inaba**

It was bright and early in the morning when Yu heard the knock at his door.

“Time to get up Yu. You have a train to catch, and I don't think my sister would appreciate me keeping her son from his ride back home.”

Ryotaro Dojima is at the other side of that door, calling out to him.

“ _I guess it's time.._ ”

Yawning as he shrugged away the blankets, he looks over the room one last time. He wouldn't see it again for a while, but his short time in Inaba had been the break he needed.

“I hate it that he was right...” he mumbles to himself as there's another tap at his door, this time by Chisato.

“We all will be taking you to the station, to get in that one last goodbye.”

Attempting to change and pack away the last of his belongings from the quick visit, Yu takes one last look in the mirror to check over himself. His hair was...under control for bedhair, and his clothes were a little wrinkled, but he'd take a nap on the first train before he makes the train switch on the Yasogami Terminal station platform midway between Inaba and Tokyo.

He moves a hand to open the doorknob, and as the door opens and he meets the faces of the Dojima family that let him in for the week. He does his best to smile, trying to hide that he's sad and upset he has to leave this. Unfortunately, it's just the way of his life, for now...

“Good morning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahaha! I did it, another chapter done in a week! YES! ~~I should really stop ignoring college work, but it shouldn't stress me out in the first place!~~ Here we are, some domestic family moments with the Dojima Family, featuring Yu, AND early Inaba exploration. This boy deserves honestly all the family moments considering how lonely he was before Inaba ~~(enough for Izanagi to briefly become a shadow about being alone again in the anime)~~ , but alas... It's only gonna be downhill from here. He's not gonna have a fun time with dealing with P3 events, much less how it'll affect him afterwards. 
> 
> Speaking of the Dojima Family, [I drew them](https://ph03nixs-artstop.tumblr.com/post/628393655622893568/polaroids-of-the-samegawa-riverbank-picnic)! Featuring small "Polaroids" of their picnic in the Samegawa Floodplains! I didn't have much to go off of for Chisato Dojima besides some scenes from P4: The Animation, so I went with my own headcanon for her. I imagine she's was really motherly and kind of an opposite to Ryotaro Dojima, which is why they loved each other so much. They felt they completed each other, and it's why he ends up so lost without her.
> 
> Tell me, what did you guys think of the Rise intro? In my original story outline, I only planned for Yosuke and ~~SPOILER~~ to be the only members of the IT to meet early on in childhood. Then I thought about some of the other IT members and how I could alter some dynamics. I played around with the idea of Kanji being one of the few he meets, but at this point, he's still angry with himself but not really delinquent yet. Then I tried Naoto, and realized she's still with her mom and day, who don't die until 2007, like two other pairs of parents do apparently??? Messing with Chie and Yukiko would mess up their dynamics, so after reviewing social links and motivations behind Rise, I chose her for another early Social Link, on the idea that her admiration for Yu had to come from somewhere, so why not from this young boy who cheered her on when she felt alone? Also, the childhood friend dynamic between Rise and Yosuke looks funnier than Yosuke seeing her as an idol only for a while til she nearly dies via shadow.
> 
> Aight, with this chapter out of the way (a whole 7.9 k words if I got word count selection right), we're fast forwarding to the start of the Tatsumi Port Island visit! Time for him to get involved with SEES. I just wanted to give him one last reprieve before shit hits the fan. Thank you so much everyone for sticking around with me as I attempt to not drag out the fic more, and thanks so much for the 1.3 k hits now! Let me know what you guys think with reviews and kudos!
> 
> ~Til next chapter everyone, Phoe out~


	9. To the Island

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After his brief visit to Inaba and settling back into life in Tokyo, his parents spring up another surprise business trip. As his injuries have lessened to the point where he doesn't need bandages, he's brought along to "not cause trouble", but what's so great about Tatusmi Port Island?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently unbeta'd.  
>  **-In need of beta readers-**  
>  _Edited on 9/9/2020_

**Wenesday, February 1 st, 2005**

**Narukami Residence**

**Shibuya, Tokyo**

The ride back to Tokyo was _pleasant_ in some manner or another, with a mostly empty train both from Yasoinaba Station to the Yasogami Terminal, but the ride from there to Tokyo became much more crowded. He kept close to an elderly couple that didn't seem to mind his presence, who in turn just wanted to chat with some small talk, which he was happy to oblige with. Once at the station, he had to wait over an hour for his father to arrive, who blamed traffic for his tardiness. Yu would have accepted that excuse, if he hadn't had to call his mother earlier to ask where his father was that wasn't the train station.

While he didn't go to school that day, he did text Yosuke that he was back in Tokyo when he got back to his house. Yu waited for time to pass as he unpacked his bags, waiting for school to end so he could rush off to meet his friend at their usual meeting spot. He had separated out his gifts for him and his shadow friend, so once it was 3:30 pm, he put Yosuke's gifts in his messenger bag and ran out the door of his house.

-

**Wenesday, February 1 st, 2005**

**Saigōyama Park**

**Shibuya, Tokyo**

“No way..”

Yu smiled as he heard a familiar voice nearby, shocked at his appearance. He chuckled quietly and opened his arms out to him. “Miss me?” he asked in a teasing manner.

“ **Of course** , you big dork!”

Yosuke didn't hold back as he ran towards his friend, the two crashing into the grass of the park's grounds. They ignored the stares from others walking by, laughing as they enjoyed the calming presence of each other. Once they settled down and separated, they stood up and went to their favorite hideaway in the park, a familiar clearing awaiting the two of them.

“When I said ' _take a break_ ', I didn't mean just up and leave the next day, but I'll take it as a victory since you actually listened to me.” Yosuke states as they take a seat against the trees. Once they're both seated, he looks over at his friend, genuine curiosity filling his expression.

“So how was it all? Staying with other family and in a new place? Anything fun happen?” the brunette questioned, eager to hear about him, headphones hanging off his neck, music quietly playing in them.

“Is it bad to say I preferred it there than here?” Yu started, leaving the other startled. “Ah! Well...I mean, just the part about being in a lived in house rather than just an empty one.” he corrected, trying to ignore the hint of guilt for lying about if he'd like to stay there than here. His response leaves Yosuke nodding a silent agreement, aware of his shaky relationship with his parents before gesturing for him to continue.

“Come on Yu, I know you're hiding something from me. That smirk proves it!” He accuses, making the silver-haired boy laugh.

“Alright! You caught me. I almost fell in a river.”

“That can't be it.”

“Ah! I met a girl there.”

“You meet girls everywhere though. Yu, stop holding out on me.” Yosuke huffs as he's trying to tear apart the packaging of a Yakisoba bread, and once open, he offers half to his friend.

“Hmm, well, I thought of you while I was there, and how you'd probably complain that I forgot about you if I didn't bring you something.” Yu teases, purposely ignoring the flustered expression and round of complaints he gets out of Yosuke from that one, all attempts to deny that he would have done that. With that, he returns to his cheeky smirk as he reaches for his bag, opening it to reveal his gifts, the yellow scarf and Black Frost doll from his Okina City visit.

“Dude, you didn't have to...” Yosuke starts, trying to hide any of the red growing on his face from the sudden gifts. Moving to grab them both, he gives the other a bright but embarrassed smile, making the effort for getting both gifts worthwhile.

“Thanks Yu.” he hums before wrapping the other with one arm to pull him into a friendly hug. The sudden closeness of being by his friend flusters Yu himself, as he moves to cover his cheeks with his hands.

“You're welcome, Yosuke...” he manages to get out in a whisper.

The rest of their time together mainly is Yu dishing out details about Inaba, his family that's over there, and the new friend he made there. Needless to say, once Yu clarifies that he really did meet a girl and befriend her, Yosuke's eager to defend his position as Yu's **best friend** because ' _he met the silver-haired boy first_ '. To counter that, Yu decides to call up Rise and see if she'd like to defend against him. The two argued over the phone in a non-serious manner, all as Yu watched in amusement.

He was glad to have met some of his friends early.

-

**Wenesday, February 1 st, 2005**

**Midnight Channel**

**Tokyo**

Being back in Tokyo for the Midnight Channel made it easier on him, since the ambiance noise of the city was more likely to keep him up. With his parents asleep in their room, Yu was able to sneak out with his bag packed again, filled with the various presents he had brought for his developing shadow friend. Pressing a hand through the screen of the living room television, he let the familiar sensation flow through his body as he went through, entering the Midnight Channel from the usual tunnel entrance. As the island came into view as he was in free-fall, he called to Izanagi to help get him down safely. His persona's response instantaneous as the boy held onto his persona's naginata, coming closer to the floating island's surface.

“Thanks Izzy.” he muttered quietly as his persona faded back to the depths of his soul, ready at his command. For a moment, he wonders about the existence of Personas, and why it was easier to summon them here in the realm of the Midnight Channel versus that strange hour where violent shadows pop-up in the real world. Yu doesn't end up with much of a concrete answer as he spots his shadow friend in the waterfall grotto area of the island, waving over at them.

“I'm back, and I brought presents.” he calls out, hearing distant chirps from the goopy shadow filled with light. It brings out a few chuckles as he moves forward to greet the shadow. From there, as he's immediately surrounded by the light-filled shadow, chirping at him for attention, he decides he'll try and avoid those nightly excursions til he felt well enough again. Any delay in summoning his persona or running through more injuries in a consecutive battles could mean the difference between life or death, after all, he was the only active persona-user, right?

Trying to push away those thoughts, Yu pulls out a book for the other, and asks if they'd like for him to read to them. They don't seem to understand until the boy takes a seat and begins to read aloud, joining him shortly by plopping themselves at his side. After a few hours of reading, he finds that the shadow had dozed off some time ago, and decides to take his lead, resting for the coming days ahead with the advantage of time passing slower outside while he's in the TV World.

-

**Friday, February 18 th, 2005**

**Junes Food Court**

**Shibuya, Tokyo**

Yosuke nearly chokes on his drink while Yu's phone practically vibrates from how loud Rise is being while on speaker.

Yu should have expected something like this would happen.

“WHAT?!”

[“THAT'S NOT FAIR!”]

As a hand moves away from his ears to after the poor attempt to shield them from the shouts, he realizes in hindsight that he _really_ should have expected those responses when he thought to tell Yosuke and Rise about his parents' plans. Once again, they had made plans without telling him until the last minute, where he had no chance to decline, outright object, or even argue to stay somewhere else now that he's been acquainted with the Dojima family. With his brunette friend right in front of him visibly distressed, and the upset tone in Rise's voice from the cell phone call, they're both just as frustrated as he is. Perhaps they're even getting angry on his behalf since he can't exactly complain that he doesn't want to go, since it's a ruling from his parents.

“They just brought it up this morning as they were leaving for work.” Yu sighs as he looks to his friend by his side.

“I didn't mean to run off this morning Yosuke...I just...just needed some time to think.” he apologizes quietly, fiddling with his thumbs. In actuality, he had a feeling his parents would be off on another business trip soon, he just hadn't expected them to drag him along this time. Likely after his accident, the last thing they wanted to do was leave him home alone, hence sending him to his uncle earlier than the last timeline.

“ _Way to go Izzy..._ ” he grumbles in the peace of his own mind, feeling an eyeroll from said persona. Yu didn't mean to be harsh on his persona, since his awakening to his other self meant he had the power to protect himself, led him to meeting his old friends in a new way, and even discovering the existence of an untainted Midnight Channel. He was thankful, just not when it had unintended consequences like this.

Rise is the one to pull him out of his thoughts, her voice back to a much more timid tone. [“How long are you going to stay there, Yu-senpai? I'm going to miss hearing you and Yosuke-senpai's voices if you're both not there to call me.”] she points out, making it clear that their friend group would be more strained while he's away.

“I could always try calling your place Rise-chan. Then you or I could call Yu using a house phone or something, and then we'll be able to talk to each other.” Yosuke offers as a solution before grumbling and rubbing the back of his head, messing up his already messy hairstyle. “Though, the quality of the call is going to just be _awful_.”

A quiet “.. **yeah**..” of agreement echos in sentiment from all three of them.

Moments like this are when he wishes he could bring them into the TV World without putting them in danger or risking their shadows coming out so early, because distance would be less of an issue if they could just go through a TV and he could use Izanagi to search around and bring them together in person. “ _It really would be better if we could do that... Yosuke and Rise haven't even met in person yet_.” he hums to himself, sighing in disappointment as he thinks back to his parents' itinerary of the trip.

“Another week trip, like when I went to Inaba. The ride over to Iwatodai City is the main problem since the place they need to go to is somewhere on Tatsumi Port Island, an artificial island. We're leaving in the morning.” Yu responds as he frowns, there was more.

“They're making me attend classes at the private academy for that week too, just so I don't miss class again. They really don't want me exploring.” He admits in frustration, letting his head fall into his crossed hands on the table and groaning into them. Rise lets out a whine on the phone as Yosuke shouts “ **Damnit**!” and hits his closed fist against the table. They weren't even certain if Yu would be available to talk if he'd have to be attending a new school while he's there. Yu never even wanted to go in the first place. If he had the choice, he'd rather stay over with Yosuke or head back to his uncle's place, because then he'd at least be with company that enjoy his presence than the inevitable empty hotel room he'd be coming back to every day for the rest of the business trip.

“So, you're just going to have to put up with this and leave _again_? I changed my mind, I **really** hate your parents.” Yosuke states firmly as he looks over to Yu, his brown eyes dimmer than usual from the news.

[“Yosuke-senpai!”] Rise shouts from the speaker-phone, surprising them both before a few moments of silence pass between the three.

[“Maybe hate's _too nice_ of a word for them! Wouldn't loathe work or something? I heard that one on TV before. It makes you sound smarter too!”] She adds as the two begin to brainstorm ways to describe Yu's parents. He didn't even bother to stop them, as he was just as frustrated and done with living up to their expectations after last timeline. He just needed them to get back to his real home in Inaba later on as a result of their poor planning. Apathetic, gray eyes peeked out from his hiding spot in his crossed arms on the table as they took in the chaos from scene in front of him from his two friends, and later idly offering a suggestion or two when they got stumped. It sent all three of them into a laughing fit from the idea that even Yu was getting in on this.

Narukami Yu would look back on this day and realize that this had been his last day of reprise before SEES and the Dark Hour entered his life. The last time he'd get to enjoy as much of a mundane life as a time interloper like him could have, before the future came calling for him, a Wild Card, to change fate...

-

**Saturday, February 19 th, 2005**

**Port Island Station**

**Tatsumi Port Island, Iwatodai City**

The sun was glaring down at the silver-haired boy as he took in the surroundings. Yu and his parents had arrived at Iwatodai City last night, moving from the station over to their hotel for the week. This morning his parents had sent him off to locate the school he'd be attending for the week. He chose to only come out now since Saturday's a half day for classes, and the campus should be less active once classes were over.

Looking down at the hastily written map his mother had given him, he tried to read past the directions past taking the monorail over here, he frowned to see the rest was smudged, making it incredibly hard to read. He looks forward at the large school complex in the distance, hoping that this Gekkoukan Elementary was somewhere in there. The worst part is he had been to this campus before in the last timeline for the Yasogami High exchange field trip, but they only toured the high school portion.

“ _Guess it's up to us to wander and just hope for the best, right Izanagi_?” He thought to himself, his persona humming in agreement from the depth of his soul. Once he reached the entrance of the station, he stepped forward to start walking towards the campus in the distance, hoping that he was going the right way.

-

**Saturday, February 19 th, 2005**

**Gekkoukan Campus**

**Tatsumi Port Island, Iwatodai City**

“It's official, I'm lost.”

Brushing back strands of his silver hair with his hand, Yu looks up at the school courtyard in front of him. It was definitely not the elementary school portion of the campus, too large to be that and had no playground for recess or anything. He sighed and rested his head against his free hand, looking around for a sign of sorts to get any indicator where he was exactly until he felt a bump at his side. He had been standing the way of someone else for a while as he spaced out, hadn't he?

“Ah! Sorry.” Yu apologized quickly as he turned around to face a taller and older looking boy.

“ 's not a problem.” The other muttered back before moving to walk further into the courtyard.

Yu got a better look at him as he walked away. The older boy had shaggy brown hair at a medium length, all pulled back into a shorter ponytail. He appeared to be wearing some version of a Gekkoukan uniform with a black turtleneck under the uniform jacket, though it didn't look like the high schooler's uniform he'd seen back on his trip here in the last timeline. His best bet was that this boy knew this campus well enough to give him some directions.

“Actually..” he called out as he ran towards the other just to get his attention, stopping right at his side when the older boy looked back at him.

“C-Could you point me in the direction of Gekkoukan Elementary. This campus is a lot bigger than I thought it would be, and I don't know where I'm going..” Yu admitted quietly, a silent plea in his eyes as he gazed up at the older boy, gray meeting steel-colored eyes. The older boy hesitated for a moment, thinking over the options most likely before sighing and pointing to the left.

“It's past this side of campus. Just north from the school gates to here.” He started before putting his hands in his jacket's pockets and walking back out to the gate. The older boy paused when he noticed Yu wasn't following, gesturing for him to follow with a quick tilt of the head.

“C'mon. It's easier if I just guide you there, but don't get used to this kid. Most people aren't going to pay attention to a lost kid if they've got class to go to.” He warns as Yu looks surprised but moves to follow behind the older boy.

“Thank you..um..” he trails off as he attempts to thank the other, having no idea what to address the other as besides maybe the senpai title. Luckily, his guide fills in for him to avoid any further humiliation.

“Aragaki. Aragaki Shinjiro.”

“Thank you then, Aragaki-san!” Yu chirps happily.

With Aragaki's guidance, the silver-haired boy eventually ended up in the proper area on campus, Gekkoukan Elementary. Once he was led over to a supervisor on campus, Aragaki took his leave. He waved the older boy down and then went on a tour around the school.

Despite how intimidating the other boy looked, he was actually rather nice. It reminded Yu of pleasant memories with Kanji Tatsumi, his underclassman who was pegged as delinquent for his appearance and behavior, but it had just been a facade to hide the fact he liked non-traditional activities like sewing and just didn't want to be rejected or hurt by others. He wondered if they would have similar arcanas if he could develop a bond with Aragaki-san.

With more than a couple of similarities between the two people, Yu found himself thinking back to Inaba, and left him wondering if early intervention with Kanji could prevent him from falling into that false hypermasculine attitude and let him accept himself and his activities. He didn't get much time to think on that as the voice beside him called for his attention in a firm manner.

“- _rukami-kun_. Narukami-kun.”

His attention snapped up to the adult calling his name. “Sorry. I was lost in thought. What were you saying sir?”

“I was asking about your honest opinion of the Gekkoukan campus. It's not often we'll have temporary students, much less one this late into the year.”

Yu sighs, that issue was on his parents' end, not his. If he had a choice, he'd rather be with his uncle Dojima and his family, studying on his own to keep up, and have ample freedom to explore the town as he pleased.

“It's...something to admire, and certainly a lot different than schools back in Tokyo. A school separated from the city, atop an artificial island, it's something not a lot of people can say they can experience if they're not from here, right?” He responds quietly, looking out to the sea that surrounds the complex.

The adult laughs quietly at his response, surprised by his eloquent response. He hadn't meant to make such a meaningful explanation off the top of his head, but it's nice to know his lessons in expression did pay off in the long term.

-

**Saturday, February 19 th, 2005**

**Near Iwatodai Station**

**Iwatodai City**

Eventually, the tour finished and Yu got a good enough understanding of the Gekkoukan campus to get to the elementary portion of it without a guide. He'll need it starting Monday. Upon riding the monorail back, he glanced at the clock at the station. It was 7:30 pm. He'd have some time to rest before the night really came.

“Maybe I should give Yosuke and Rise a call...” he muttered to himself as he walked along the street over to the hotel he and his parents were staying at, entering the lobby and asking for directions to the room they had booked. They pointed him along the way, but not without asking why he was unsupervised at the moment and where was his parents. He didn't answer them as he pressed the button to call the elevator down.

Pulling out the room key, he noticed no one was in the room yet, just like he expected. His mother was likely to make it back before midnight just to pass out upon arrival, while his father would probably go out drinking with his business partners and new associates he met through the trip.

Yu pulls out his phone and dials Yosuke's number first, letting the dial tone ring on as he looks at the empty hotel room. “ _Just like always.._ ” he thought to himself before hearing a familiar voice on the phone.

[“Yu!”]

“Hey Yosuke. How's everything back home?”

[“Not as fun as usual, but I blame that one on you. How's it with you over at Iwatodai City? Missing Tokyo yet?”]

Yu takes a seat by the window and peeks at the view of the city outside from it, a quiet sigh coming from him.

“More than anything Yosuke..”

-

Chatting with his friends helped ease the tensions in his soul regarding the trip, letting him doze away for a while until he heard the room door open. It had been late already, nearly 11 pm when someone finally decided to come back.

In came his mother, who didn't even bother to greet him. She robotically made her way to the bathroom to wipe away all traces of the day. Then, when she came out, she moved just enough to fall on top of the bed, asleep in only a few moments. Yu looked at her with pity, she had worked herself to exhaustion again. He grabbed some spare bed sheets that were around the hotel room and tucked her in, the grimace on her face lightening up just a bit.

“Night mom.” he whispers quietly into the night, pulling his messenger bag out of his luggage and beginning to review the items inside for his weekly shadow excursion. Yu was curious what the night would be like here compared to Tokyo, where there had been low activity, and Inaba, where there hadn't even been a dangerous enough presence for Izanagi to warn him about.

“Wonder what tonight will bring..” he asked to his other self absentmindedly, looking outside to nothing particular, just wondering how that strange hour would affect this city.

-

**Saturday, February 19 th, 2005**

**Iwatodai Dormitory**

**Iwatodai City**

Mitsuru paced around the dormitory lobby. Penthesilea was just as restless as she was tonight. The Chairman hadn't arrived yet, and the Dark Hour would be upon them soon enough.

“Where are those two..?” she muttered quietly under her breathe as the front door opened and lo and behold, Shinjiro and Akihiko finally decided to show up.

“It's **late**.” She stated firmly, glaring daggers at them both, the temperature of the room dropping from the cold anger emitting from her.

“Aki stayed later for practice tonight, boxing club, remember Mitsuru?” The taller of the two pointed out as Akihiko gave a thankful glance to the other from his side. Fine, she'd let them off the hook this time as the Chairman had yet to come downstairs and report to them their assignment for the night.

“Almost time, right Mitsuru?” Akihiko asked, trying to hide his enthusiasm towards upcoming fights they'd get into once the Dark Hour arrived.

“Just about Akihiko...just about.” She hums quietly, looking out the window of the dormitory for a moment, wanting to wait for it to happen, but turning away eventually. It would just be the same as every other night. Mitsuru sighs as she stands up and gestures for the two to follow her at once.

“Come on, we should look at the radar in the control room before the Dark Hour does start. If the Chairman is occupied tonight, we should let him be and unanimously decide where to patrol tonight.”

“Gotcha.”

“Right...”

-

**Saturday, February 19 th, 2005**

**Near Iwatodai Station**

**Iwatodai City**

**_"...5."_ **

“ _ **...4.”**_

“ _ **...3.”**_

“ _ **...2.”**_

“ _ **...1.”**_

The clock chimed for a single moment as the world changed, gray eyes watching through the window as the environment around shifted to its a nightmarish hellscape. Yu didn't even look back to gaze at the coffin left on the bed, occupying the space his mother was in just a few moments ago.

“Nothing different so far.” He hummed as he grabbed the bag at his side and gave a final check over his attire for the night. Izanagi was at the forefront of his mind, guiding him as they stepped out of the hotel to check the streets around. There were shadows out and about, just like in Tokyo, but they didn't even notice him yet at least.

It was just as creepy as it was any other time he went out to explore the world at this time.

Yu didn't notice shadows starting to trail behind him at a distance, as his head turned to face the bleeding moon, eyes meeting with an unfamiliar tower now standing proudly under it.

“W-What is **that**?!” He cried out, brief memories of the P-1 Climax coming to mind. Hadn't something like this happened to Yasogami over the span of one night? Whatever it was, it screamed suspicious, so he decided to avoid for now. Izanagi warned him that there were hostiles close by, letting him turn away from the ominous tower before noticing the shadows' looming presences nearby.

“I need these things off my trail.. Thanks for the heads up Izanagi.” The boy stated as he moved to grab a smoke bomb for bag, tossed it out the shadows in the opposite direction to get their attention off of him, and ran for it. He'd be back at the hotel before morning... _hopefully_. If not and he had to rest elsewhere, it wouldn't be the worst thing ever. It's not like his parents would notice much of a difference without him there in the room or not.

-

**Sunday, February 20 th, 2005**

**Iwatodai Dormitory**

**Iwatodai City**

“Hey Mitsuru, come take a look at this.” Akihiko calls out as he's staring intensely at the radar. The Chairman hadn't reported in by the time the Dark Hour arrived, so the SEES trio were left to their own devices tonight. Shinjiro was posted at the control room doorway, ready to follow along whenever they decided to leave. She had offered to just make it a simple patrol tonight around for any hostile shadows trying to harm those defenseless during the Dark Hour, and they were just about to set out when she was called over.

Staring up at the radar, watching the number of hostile shadows increasing around the area was odd, at least to her understanding of the Dark Hour. Her father or the Chairman would probably have an explanation, but without either here, it was all on her shoulders tonight. “That's...unusual. Shadows don't tend to group up in these many clusters unless it's a full moon.” she remarked as she watched the radar scan through another rotation, the clusters still grouping together tightly, a hand moving to twirl a single curl of her red hair. They were in the area, so they could potentially check it out.

At that point, she wonders if Akihiko's persona allows for mind reading to a degree as she turns to look at him, and sees that familiar look of mischief on his face. It's going to be a long night again, isn't it. “Sanada, are you proposing we go check out this anomaly?”

“I mean, if it's something that even you don't have an answer on, it's probably for the best that we go check on it, right? For all we know, they could be chasing one of those larger boss shadows detected up in Tartarus.” He offers as reasoning.

It's a good point, so the plans change for tonight, they'll be going to check out the shadow clusters nearby.

“Gather your gear, we're going. **Now**.”

“Nice!”

“About time!” Shinjiro calls from the doorway as he looks over at the two. All three walk out of the control room, gear equipped and evokers at the ready.

-

**Sunday, February 20 th, 2005**

**Near Iwatodai Station**

**Iwatodai City**

“Anything Mitsuru?”

With her persona powering the radar at her side, she confidently leads them through another ambush on smaller shadow clusters, sheathing her rapier as they move forward So far, they weren't hadn't found the anomaly. “Not yet.” She mutters quietly before a nearby ping on the radar signals they were getting close.

“I take that back, we're close. Keep your guard up. I'll need a moment to recall Penthesilea before a fight, and we'll need the cover if we're at one of the larger groups.” She orders as they pick up the pace.

Short burst of static fill the air as they close in on the strip mall near Iwatodai Station, more pings coming up on the radar. Mitsuru and Shinjiro get the same idea and look towards their resident electricity specialized persona-user, Akihiko.

“What? It's not me or Polydeuces!” he shouts before Mitsuru glares at him, signaling for him to quiet down.

“Quiet. Penthesilea is picking up on something else. Whatever it is, she doesn't recognize it and it is not a shadow...” Mitsuru warns as they step closer.

They're coming into view of one of the larger shadow clusters, obviously gathered around something. The cracks of electricity are more than evident than before. This time, a shout breaks through the silence.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” a younger voice cries out.

Akihiko and Mitsuru look to each other, neither recognizing the voice, but share a determined look to save whoever is getting attack. They both look to Shinjiro, ready to execute their ambush strategy, but the look on his face says he's somewhat familiar with whoever is being attacked.

“What did you get yourself into, kid...” is all the taller of the three states under his breath before gesturing at the other two to move in, his evoker pulled out and ready to call upon his persona.

“I'll make an opening. Get the kid out of there.” He pleads as his hands at the trigger.

“ **CASTOR**!”

A gunshot releases from the evoker, as glass shards gather behind Shinjiro, forming a large black, horse-riding persona, awaiting commands from its user below it.

“ _Assault Dive_!”

The large persona lets loose a devastating physical attack to a small group of shadows in front of it. True to Shinjiro's word, he made a passable opening for Mitsuru and Akihiko to follow up on, a glimpse of silver hair visible through the cracks of the shadows.

Akihiko takes the first move, weaving through the broken apart shadows, striking a few others to make the opening clearer for Mitsuru to go through, all before pulling out his own evoker.

“ **POLYDEUCES**!”

Another gunshot rings out from a separate evoker, another figure appearing from broken glass shards released by the gun-like device. This time, the persona is a being with white and teal, with a large needle like weapon in the place of its hand.

“ _Sonic Punch_!”

Akihiko's persona lays out a couple of smaller shadows to further reveal a young boy, fighting off shadows in the center of the cluster, gripping on tightly to some sort of broken sword. The strangest thing about the boy's attempts to fight comes from the electricity conducting from his hands, then concentrated on the sword's edge when he attacks. The silver-haired child looks distressed with each firing of the evoker, but is still trying to fight on his own as he drives the sword through the body of another shadow.

Mitsuru sees her opportunity to reach the boy, sliding through the clearing both of her teammates made before her hand reaches for her evoker and holds it to her head. With her persona buzzing within after being removed from the radar when Shinjiro attacked, now was the time.

“ **PENTHESILEA**!”

One final shot of the evoker, the glass shards released from it begin to take form in the shape of an iron-masked queen, dagger and rapier in hand like the user behind her. The persona holds out the dagger, readying an ice attack at Mitsuru's command.

“ _Mabufu_!”

The dagger glows a brilliant cyan blue as the persona digs it into one shadow, letting the icicles develop off of it before the ice encasing spreads off to nearby shadows around it. Mitsuru pierces through two shadows with her own rapier and grabs hold of the boy while they have a chance.

“Move, **now**!” she commands as she attempts to drag him off with her back to her teammates.

While ordering a second Mabufu to be sent behind them, she drags him out to escape from the center of the shadows. Once regrouped, all three push the boy behind their backs and order attacks from almost all angles. The one side they don't send any attacks through is the one that leads to their escape route. The three are inching closer to their destination until one shadow drops from above, all of them in horror as they watch it coming down to them in free-fall until a strained cry comes out from below the SEES members, where the child was placed for protection.

“ **I-IZANAGI!** ”

Blue flames surround the palm of the boy's hands as a tarot card lands in them, and is instantly crushed like glass as an unfamiliar persona appears above them. It wields a naginata that it uses to promptly stab into and slice in half the shadow from above, being promptly dismissed after the action. Presumably, it must have received a silent command from its user under the three SEES members, as the boy gasps for air, hands that look to have electricity burns on them moving to grab a hold of his head, attempting to ease away a strong head-splitting pain.

“Shinjiro, carry him out of here. Akihiko, use Dia on him when its safe enough to seal away the injuries, we'll need him conscious later. I'll deal with the rest of these pests.” Mitsuru orders.

The two begin her plan of action as she grabs her evoker once more and fires it to re-summon her persona to battle. Moving to scoop the boy off the ground, Shinjiro winces as he hears the cries of pain from the injuries the child must have sustained alone, and backs off. Akihiko leads him out by punching out some shadows from their exit route with his brass knuckles, the shadows weakened from the onslaught of attacks from earlier before calling for Shinjiro to follow. The empress persona fires off two rounds of Mabufu into incoming shadows before landing Marin Karin on every other shadow that had been partially frozen. Her user cracks the ice encasing on the shadows affected by the charmed status with her rapier, and lets them loose onto the other shadows, buying her time to step back and regroup with her teammates.

-

**Sunday, February 20 th, 2005**

**Iwatodai Dormitory**

**Iwatodai City**

Yu barely holds on to consciousness as he's being carried off in the arms of someone, able to stay up longer thanks to a quick pulse of healing coursing through him. The people around him sounded familiar, but he can't open his eyes to see them, his concentration on the straining pain between his body and soul. He understood the recently discovered risks of summoning Izanagi in the real world, but if that shadow did land on them before they could react, the other shadows could have reached them and their rescue attempt for him could have ended with all of them getting killed.

It had been an absolute nightmare for the young Wild Card. He hadn't expected there would be so many shadows! He could say for certain that there had been more shadows in Iwatodai than there had been in Tokyo, where he could manage them without Izanagi being there physically...most of the time.

He tries to stay still to try and keep from injuring himself further, occupying his delirious thoughts with accounting for his stuff. He could feel the weight of the messenger bag resting at his side, just as still as he was in the carry, though he took notice on how much lighter it felt. Either it had been cut through by some shadows and items leaked out of it, or he just used up more than he remembered. Next, his model katana. Yu remembers how it cracked in half after impact with a physically durable shadow, withstanding the blow even he had charged it with Cleave. If he had to fight for his life here in Iwatodai City for his whole visit, he would be without a weapon.

His mind drifts to the sound of gunshots from earlier, ringing out right before a persona had appeared. Had he seen that form of summoning before? Was it even summoning or a weapon? He can't remember at the moment, his mind aching from bringing out Izanagi earlier.

Suddenly, he takes notice that the person that had been carrying him is no longer there with him, nor holding him anymore. It feels like a bed, or some cushions, whatever it was, Yu had been set down somewhere. There was a conversation going on as pulses of healing ran through him. At first, he was unable to focus on whatever they were saying, but as more healing goes through him and closes up the physical wounds and slowly restores his stamina, he feels himself becoming more lucid and aware. A few more pulses go through and he feels okay enough to open his eyes, groaning he attempts to move a hand and rub at it. His body aches, he feels sore, but he's alive nonetheless.

“ _Yosuke's gonna kill me if he finds out about this.._ ” he mumbles out, an attempt to think out loud, but the exhaustion is keeping his voice low and quiet. After rubbing away at his tired, gray eyes, he notices there's an audience around him, and he nearly jumps with the little energy he has.

“Take it easy kiddo. You just went through one **hell** of a fight with shadows. Gotta say, you must be a fighter if you held them off for that long before we got there.” says a young man with silver hair like himself, though they sport a bandage and have it cut shorter than him. Their statement had been in a lighthearted manner before they were shushed by the redhead.

“Surprised he's even coming too that fast. He took a beating.” another masculine voice points out, as he faces the young man from earlier, the one that had helped him find Gekkoukan Elementary by a chance meeting.

“....it's you..” he manages to get out before looking over the three people in front of him. They had saved him, but just who were they. Two of them vaguely remind him of something that's itching at the back of his mind, but he can't recall at the moment. It'll come back to him later when he's healed up.

“...who are you guys?” Yu asks to no one specific, just hoping for an answer. That's when the final person watching over him calls for his attention.

The young redhead woman in front of him clears her throat before starting in a clear voice, her expression not exactly warm but not fully cold to him either. “We are members of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, otherwise known as **S.E.E.S**. Our purpose is to eliminate shadows, investigate the tower dubbed _Tartarus_ , and the time anomaly known as the _Dark Hour_. You have seemingly slipped into the Dark Hour and awakened to a persona, so here is my question, who are _**you**_?” she finishes as he struggles to find his voice.

“I-I'm Yu. Narukami Yu.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE IT IS. The moment you've been waiting for ~~after 10,000 years~~ , THE SEES CONFRONTATION. Yes, I put Shinjiro in a ponytail because the Dancing in Moonlight models for him look amazing, plus we don't really get a look at what the OG SEES trio looked like in anything, or at least in anything I've seen. The most I know is Mitsuru used to have drill twintails when she was young, and that's kind of what I got while researching via wikis and stuff.
> 
> Anyways, I have very little experience writing battle sequences, so please take this mess and I apologize a head of time if it's bad... (;m;) So onto the gist of this chapter! SEES and Yu finally meet, and Yu promptly passes the fuck out before thanking them. His pain comes from finally straining his body too much in summoning his persona the natural way he learned from the TV World. That way is better, but is not the ideal way for the Dark Hour since it takes place in reality rather than cognition! (:D)  
> Again, I mentioned earlier that he tried to stop summoning Izanagi during the Dark Hour and instead just act as a conductor for his persona's power since it would strain his soul and body less since evokers mainly do the hard part of blurring reality and cognition via the Plume of Dusk inside. To summon in reality, it takes a lot of concentration, training, and a strong bond between a persona and the user. Yu, has only the latter. He'll be training to summon IRL as he gets older again ~~(because the evoker scares the hell out of him, which is why he could only remember the gunshots when he's out of it near the end of the chapter)~~ , so he'll have it down...eventually, maybe. At the very least, he'll have the ability to do it, just maybe not perfectly.
> 
> This bad boy of a chapter took a whole day, and it's about 6.8 k words. Hope that's okay! I won't be able to publish another chapter this week because I have a paper to push out by this Saturday and some general college work to catch up on, but we're finally getting closer to Yu joining the early SEES! Also, I want your opinion on something, as readers of this fic! I'm debating on whether Yu should get a special evoker or not, ~~leaning towards yes he should, the boy's going to be traumatized after P3 events~~. If he does get one, it would focus on the Plume of Dusk aspect to assist in persona summoning rather than summoning his persona out of fear, stress and to reject death, because that's not how he got his persona. After all, P4 is about rejecting fate and forging your own path through the unknown, valuing truth above comfort, hence why they face their shadows and summon by crushing tarot cards, often indicators of the future ahead. I don't know, I'll figure it out later, but I want to know if that'd be coolio with you guys. 
> 
> Once again, thank you so much everyone for sticking around with me, and thanks so much for the 1.5 k hits on this fic now! Let me know what you guys think with reviews and kudos!
> 
> ~Til next chapter everyone, Phoe out~


	10. A Deal You Can't Refuse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After severely underestimating the power of the Dark Hour in Tatsumi Port Island, Yu finds himself making contact with his rescuers, the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad of Gekkoukan Academy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Beta'd by DrNekuAdano**

**Sunday, February 20 th, 2005**

**Iwatodai Dormitory**

**Iwatodai City**

The young boy, Narukami, fell asleep sometime after some light questioning. There were still questions lingering in Mitsuru's mind about who this boy was, how he awoke to a Persona, and why was his persona summoning different than theirs. He had not required an Evoker to summon his Persona in the Dark Hour, but his method seemed to have its own drawbacks. There was also the concern of his origin.

Narukami came from Tokyo and still had experienced the Dark Hour, but the radar noticed little to no shadow-activity there. Why would he awaken there instead of here? She appreciated his honesty at the very least, despite how many new problems it may have brought to SEES. With this new mystery at hand and worries over needing to expand their shadow hunting operations further, she dialed in the chairman. It was imperative that he become aware of a new persona-user.

She thought about her teammates, Akihiko and Shinjiro. Shinjiro had opted to stay with Narukami after explaining that they had met briefly earlier in the day. Akihiko, as expected, stuck by Shinjiro's side, elated at the idea of a possible new team member to train with, despite Aragaki's insistence that they shouldn't involve him.

The phone continued to ring, awaiting an answer from the other end. Mitsuru could feel her thoughts wander off as she waited, today's events sinking in fully. First, she wasn't aware of what they would classify the child as. Would he be considered a _natural_ Persona-user? Were SEES's own awakenings not the norm? Then came the issue of how would they make their offer to him about S.E.E.S? Was it really right to take the innocence of this child in order to solve the mistake of the Kirijo family, like how she had done to herself so carelessly many years ago? Must they rip away any semblance of his prior life in Tokyo to have him fight for the sake of the world?

The dial tone ended. There hadn't been an answer. She sighed as she hung up the phone, a hand moving to absentmindedly twirl a curl of her rose colored locks. It looks like the chairman was still unavailable tonight given Mitsuru had been directed to the answering machine. Whatever the case, it seems she would have the night to think it over. It probably would be best for everyone if Ikutsuki came in by the morning, once everyone's rested and recovered from tonight's rescue efforts.

As she made her way upstairs to her room, she came to the unfortunate realization that young Narukami **must** join due to their low numbers. After all, there was no conceivable way that three Persona users would be able to tackle Tartarus by themselves. It pained her to think about it as she prepared for bed. They'd have to somehow _convince_ him to join as part of S.E.E.S in order to end the Dark Hour, but the question was how.

Mitsuru didn't sleep soundly that night, and she doubted Aragaki and Sanada did either. They knew their part to play tomorrow, and what would become of the young persona-user they found.

-

**Sunday, February 20 th, 2005**

**Iwatodai Dormitory**

**Iwatodai City**

Morning sunlight illuminated the Iwatodai Dormitory.

Gray eyes fluttered open from the bright rays of light hitting against him.

Yu found himself on an unfamiliar couch, one hand moving to hold up his aching head. Snippets of last night slowly returned to him as he sat upright, becoming more aware of his current surroundings.

_[A frightening tower that bloomed under the bleeding moon._

_Shadows in numbers he's never seen before since he ended up in this timeline._

_There was an alleyway he had run through as said shadows followed him shortly after leaving the hotel room._

_He was forced into combat to try and stay alive. His katana broke in half when he was fighting and shortly succumbed the hordes of shadows closing in on him.]_

Then he had been saved by a small group of Persona-users, right?

He must have been if he remembers everything accordingly. Two of his rescuers looked familiar, like he might have encountered them in the previous timeline, but they weren't as prominent as his other memories were. He'll try and think about that later. For now, his main focus was on the room he was currently resting in. It looked like a community living room; with a large TV nearby and about two sofas on each side of it, while he was resting in the center couch.

The silver-haired boy slowly sat up, discarding a blanket that had been placed on him sometime last night, looking for anyone nearby. This room, along with the nearby lobby and dining room appeared empty. Just where was he?

Suddenly, the front door opened as someone stepped in.

“Good mornin-! Oh. It doesn't look like Mitsuru or the others are down yet...”

It didn't look like the visitor noticed him yet; Yu didn't care to get a look at them. He ducked under the covers to pretend he was asleep. Maybe he could learn a little more about his current predicament if he stayed quiet.

There were steps moving closer to him, likely the stranger. Seems like they were smart enough to check their surroundings, and that spelled trouble for Yu!

“ _Hmm_..”

Too close! Way too close! He heard the stranger start to try and look over the couch to see who's there until there was some movement from the nearby staircase.

“Chairman. I see you noticed my calls.”

It's the commanding voice of one of his saviors from last night if he recalled; the redhead. She didn't give him her name, so it's all he really has to work with. She seemed to know about whatever was going on during that cursed hour because she questioned him so intensively compared to Aragaki or the other teen with them.

“Ah, just the Kirijo I wanted to see.”

The stranger backed away from the couch, giving Yu the chance to catch his breath. The name tickled something in the back of his mind. Again. It was like he was forgetting something. Whatever it was, he'd figure it out later... maybe.

It was getting harder to remember things as he now has two sets of memories. He makes a mental note to pick up a journal in order to keep track of important events and information from his past life. Perhaps, if he could, try to spare some people of their pain this time around when the time came for him to embark on his true journey...

Deep in thought, he barely recognized the sounds of someone who's closer to him again. However, Yu doesn't feel the other figure approaching him is hostile or unknown. In fact, it's the other teen from last night, the one that seems close with Aragaki. The teenager gives Yu a slight shake on his shoulder, attempting to get him up, unaware that Yu's been pretending to be asleep this entire time.

“Hey kid. Up and at 'em. It's morning. C'mon... Shinji's gonna make breakfast soon, but we've got something important to talk about before that.” he greeted as Yu opened one of his eyes to peek at the silver-haired teen over him, then pushed the blanket off himself to try and get up for real.

“What time is it? My parents might be awake in the hotel, looking for me...” Yu responded with a small yawn. He knows his parents aren't even aware he's left, nor would they care much to look for him outside of giving him a call later. Their work here takes importance in their eyes.

“Don't worry about it. Hurry up or I'll take things into _my own hands_!” The teen playfully threatens before moving to pick him up. The whole thing takes him by surprise.

“W-Wha-?!”

Yu could hardly process the fact that he'd been lifted into the silver-haired teen's arms as they were laughing along the entire time. His cheeks burned in embarrassment as he was whisked off the couch and over to the dining room nearby. This young man is rather forceful, but in a lighthearted manner.

He doesn't even bother to fuss as his body still aches from the injuries he sustained the night before. He feels more lucid as the two approach a table where both the stranger and the redhead from last night are talking to each other. The teen sets him down on one of the dining room chairs; already pulled out and ready for him to take a seat on.

“..thank you..” Yu mutters quietly to be polite. The teen at least did take them to the table, even if Yu hadn't asked for the other to take him.

“Ah, the guest of honor has arrived. I assume this is the one you were talking about, right Mitsuru?”

The voice of the stranger who stepped too close to him when he was still waking up sounded surprised and curious about his arrival. They didn't look that intimidating. In fact, they looked rather friendly, but something was _odd_ about him. Or maybe Yu was just feeling anxious after last night's incident.

“Hello..” Yu greeted weakly as he spotted the redhead from last night from the corner of his eye, looking as if she's ready to start talking.

“Yu Narukami, this is Shuji Ikutsuki. He's the Chairman of the Board for Gekkoukan Academy. He also oversees all our S.E.E.S operations. I felt it would be necessary that he be here for this discussion.” She introduced as she slightly gestures to the Chairman with one hand before she looks back at Yu, who nods quietly in response.

“As you may or may not recall from last night, my name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm the leader of S.E.E.S. The one who _so recklessly_ carried you here is Akihiko Sanada. Lastly, there's Shinjiro Aragaki, who you seem acquainted with already. All three of us have our own Personas and make up the field team of S.E.E.S. Unfortunately...we are the **only** field members of S.E.E.S.” Mitsuru finishes solemnly before Ikutsuki begins to speak.

“Narukami-kun. Not many can develop awaken a persona, much less however hone their abilities for combat in such a short period of time. From what Mitsuru tells about your performance last night, you seem quite acquainted with your powers. May I ask how?” The Chairman questioned, Yu becoming a little flustered from the direct question.

“I....I've had my persona, Izanagi, since the beginning of this year. On New Year's Eve... I witnessed this _dark hour_ phenomenon for the first time. There were coffins everywhere and I was attacked by shadows in the hospital.” He explains, fidgeting with his fingers. “Since then, I've been fighting shadows on the days I feel well enough to.”

Mitsuru raised an eyebrow at the statement. “What do you mean, _well enough to_? Persona usage doesn't have any other side-effects other than fatigue generally.”

“..that's what I thought too...” Yu mumbles quietly as Ikutsuki clears his throat to get attention back to him.

“So then you've been a Persona-user for some time now, correct? Did you happen to operate in the Tokyo area?” The Chairman questions as Yu stiffened up in response. Mitsuru's looking at the silver-haired boy with surprise.

“Yes... I would stay in the Shibuya area. How...how do you know that?” Yu asks with suspicion, narrowing his eyes at the man in front of him.

“We, as SEES, have various tools and instruments that are utilized for monitoring and operating within the time frame of the Dark Hour. One of them is a radar to keep an eye on shadow activity throughout Japan. I noticed that a small portion of Tokyo's Shadows would seemingly disappear on some occasions in the Shibuya area and asked Mitsuru to keep an eye out. I never would have imagined the one eliminating shadows there would come to us, much less turn out to be a lone persona-user. You've done quite well on your own Narukami-kun...” Ikutsuki explained before pausing as if there's more to add.

Yu notices Mitsuru and Akihiko starting to become uncomfortable as well. Looks like something unpleasant would be brought up then. The boy took a quick breath in and out, bracing himself for it. “You're not just here for formalities, are you?” he questioned in a blunt manner, sighing to himself.

“Indeed. You're quite perceptive...” The Chairman noted before taking a more serious stance to address him. “Yu Narukami, I'd like to ask you a favor. Not as the Chairman of the Board of Gekkoukan Academy, nor as the Advisor of the SEES but as someone who is worried for the future of humanity... You see, it's nearly impossible to find those who can actively fight Shadows like our field team can. However, as you can see, we don't have the numbers to keep up with these endless Shadows coming from Tartarus. Kirijo, Sanada and Aragaki are the **only** thing standing between the shadows and us. I'd like to ask if you'd be willing to join them.”

Yu felt as if he had been turned to stone, attempting to digest the Chairman's statement. Joining SEES...? While it would offer him the opportunity to strengthen himself and Izanagi before Izanami even began to set up the pieces for her gamble on humanity using the Midnight Channel, could it not also **alter** his own path before him? What if he's stuck fighting shadows in the Dark Hour by the time 2011 arrives?! How would he even arrive into Inaba if his parents weren't going to leave him with his uncle to work abroad and he was on Tatsumi Port Island?! Everything could go... _**wrong**_.

“You're asking me to leave my life behind... to fight more of those _monsters_? I... I can't do that.” The boy quietly starts, shaking his head rapidly at Ikutsuki. “I am thankful that SEES is responsible for saving me last night, but I'm sorry Ikutsuki-san. I cannot accept that.” he firmly states, his mind thinking back to the few friends and family that are with him now, and those he'll see again in the future.

Mitsuru looks to be surprised at his response, then appears to become conflicted. She looked at him with pity. Whether the look is due to him being recruited or because he's a child being asked to undertake such a huge responsibility, Yu will never know.

Though, Ikutsuki remained rather collected and calm despite being told no, there is some wistfulness taking hold on his expression. “I understand this isn't an easy decision to make Narukami-kun, but the future depends on Persona-users like yourself. Without them, our world and life as we know it, will fall to ruin against these creatures.”

Yu felt part of his resolve crumble at the statement, that phrase bringing back the memories of his battles against Ameno-sagiri, Kusumi-no-Okami, and Izanami-no-Okami. To let the world fall to Shadows was supposedly humanity's wish, but did such a wish stretch back this far back? He didn't have much of an answer for that, his head ringing at the memories of goddesses. The boy bites his lip in pain, trying to remain firm about his decision.

“ _Sir_!” Mitsuru interjects, looking nervous as she interjects. “ **Please.** Allow him the week to come to informed decision about this. He is younger than us, and never asked to be brought into this. It was pure chance that we even crossed paths.” she reasons, looking back at Yu for a moment before continuing. “Narukami is attending Gekkoukan Elementary for the week as part of a temporary transfer, therefore we can consider this a trial period, where he will **temporarily** be a part of SEES.”

Ikutsuki looked pleased with the compromise. “That seems doable for the moment. I assume you've looked into his paperwork for the information regarding his transfer then, right Mitsuru?”

“Yes sir... I wanted to understand the history behind the Persona-user we recovered last night.” The redhead returns with a sigh. “I'll take full responsibility over him and his actions over the course of this week.”

“Then I believe we're done for today.” Ikutsuki confirms as he moves off the chair to stand up and make his way out of the dormitory. He makes a point of stopping behind Yu to place a hand on his shoulder, gaining the boy's attention to look up at him. “It was wonderful to meet you Narukami-kun. I do hope you'll reconsider.” he added before walking out.

Yu let out a sigh of relief once the entrance closed behind Ikutsuki, signaling that the Chairman had left the building. He became frustrated because he was just offered such a life-changing decision; one that can **but** should not be made on a whim! He was lucky enough that Mitsuru intervened, though he was concerned about what this _trial period_ would mean for him.

“Thank you for speaking up on my behalf Kirijo-senpai..” Yu thanked in a meek manner as Mitsuru nods curtly.

“Please, call me Mitsuru. I couldn't stay silent when it came to that because joining SEES is not something to take lightly, no matter how much Ikutsuki may paint it to be. While we would welcome you should you choose to join, I would understand if you'd like to keep persona business at arm's reach. For now, I shall call your parents.” She stated as she moved out of her chair and began to walk away from the table.

“W-What?! Why?” Yu questions suddenly as he moves out the chair to follow after Mitsuru, albeit at a slower pace from his recovering injuries.

Mitsuru stopped only to look at him and give him a soft smile. “To let them know you'll be staying here for the next week, as per the conditions for Gekkoukan Academy to accept a temporary student.” She responded before walking off to call his parents.

He felt very conflicted as this would be freeing himself away from his parents for the next week, but he'd also be confined to following SEES protocols. Yu sighed, knowing he'd at least be more free to do as he pleased here than at the hotel. He was pulled from his thoughts as Akihiko came up from behind, placing an arm on his shoulder and grinning at him.

“It isn't all bad, kid. We'll show you everything there is to know about the Dark Hour and maybe even help out with that persona of yours. Now c'mon, tough talk over. Let's go see if Shinji's done with breakfast. After that we can set up your dorm room today!” Akihiko claimed before pulling Yu along again over to the kitchen.

There wasn't much he could do in his position now, so the best Yu could do was prepare for the week ahead of him as a temporary member of SEES.

“Alright... Thank you Sanada-senpai.” He replies weakly as he hears Mitsuru on the phone, the dial tone ringing, signaling that she's contacting another person, presumably his parents. Yu hopes he isn't around when they come around to drop off his things. They'll be annoyed for having to take time out of their schedules to deliver his things over to the dormitory. It's a minor inconvenience for most, but they'll lecture him later like it was a travesty.

-

Being led off to the dining room and getting to see Shinjiro again brought a small smile to Yu's face, someone who was a bit more familiar before finding out his status as a Persona-user. The wonderful smelling breakfast ahead of them lightened the mood he found himself in after such an intense discussion.

“Shinji, breakfast done yet? The kid needs some protein in him if he's gonna get any better!” Akihiko calls into the kitchen, Yu watching quietly from the sides in amusement. Judging by the way Akihiko calls out to Shinjiro with a nickname suggests they're close.

Huh, a nickname... and a close friend...

“ _I wonder if Yosuke's doing alright... I should call him when my stuff gets here._ ” Yu mumbled to himself as Akihiko turned to him and clapped a hand against his back, making the boy wince in slight pain. He'd make a mental note to keep in mind that Akihiko is enthusiastic and _very_ strong against his smaller body.

“We're waiting!” The teen calls out before another voice rings out and Aragaki makes his appearance, holding four plates in a professional manner, two in each hand.

“Cool it Aki. Kid's here but Mitsuru isn't. Go grab her, then we eat.” Shinjiro ordered as he began to set the food onto the table.

Akihiko groaned but willingly obliges, walking back to where they had entered from, distant calls of Mitsuru's name echoing out as he gets farther away.

As he watches Shinjiro served breakfast, Yu notices there aren't any utensils on the table yet nor drinks. He looks up at the teen expectantly and offers a shy smile. “Is there anything I can help out with?”

“Just take a seat kid. You're the guest here, not me.” Shinjiro responds back nonchalantly as he puts down a plate of food in an empty seat, gesturing to him to take a seat there. Yu obliges quietly as he pulls out the chair and takes his place there.

He's not sure how to act now with Akihiko gone, but it looks like he has some alone time with Shinjiro as they're awaiting Akihiko's return with Mitsuru in tow. He fidgets with his hands under the table as Shinjiro set down more plates across from him. He's trying to think of what to say until the teen decides to take the initiative and cut through the tension in the air.

“What were you doing out last night kid? Do you have any idea what you've gotten yourself into?” Shinjiro asked, his sullen expression telling Yu that he sounded disappointed at the very least, but that he was also concerned. He didn't remember his rescue very well, but he swore that he heard the first gunshot echo into the night after he heard Aragaki's voice, supposedly summoning his Persona.

“I... I was doing what I always do during the Dark Hour. I try to explore to learn more about whatever I keep ending up in every night, and just try to protect people from the Shadows. I didn't realize that Tatsumi Port Island is pretty much the epicenter of all the Shadow-activity! I swear! I was just so used to the smaller numbers of Shadows I face back in Shibuya.” Yu admits quietly before he recalls something from last night, a detail he saw before he went on his patrol and was ambushed.

“Aragaki-senpai. What...was that tower last night? The eerie looking one that was farther out from the island? Is that what Mitsuru-senpai meant by **Tartarus**?”

Shinjiro sighed dejectedly as he finishes setting the table, moving to take a seat across from Yu, a hand over his face as he grumbles something under his breath, something under the lines of: “ _...of course he saw it.. fucking Tartarus.._ ”. Once he's said whatever he needed to under the cover of his facepalm, he looks back at Yu and nods slightly. “It is, and that's all you're gonna get out of me. The less you're involved with it, the better. The Dark Hour and Tartarus; those are things for SEES to deal with. Don't feel like you should get involved in the problems we got ourselves into.” He warns ominously, Yu feeling a sense of dread behind those words and wishes to ask more about it, but then Akihiko appears at the dining room doorway, Mitsuru right at his side.

“Found her!” the silver-haired teen states with a slight grin as Shinjiro shakes his head.

“Just hurry up and take a seat. Kid's been waiting on you two.” he scolds in a feigned manner as Mitsuru looks to Yu.

“My apologies Narukami-kun. I just finished speaking with your parents and they'll arrive later with your belongings. They were quite stubborn when I stated you were required to stay at the dorm. Any idea as to why they may be?” She asks, raising an eyebrow at him in a suspicious manner. Yu gulped as Mitsuru stared at him, that look in her eye telling him that he'd face consequences if he didn't answer her.

“They tend to be like that. Work always comes first for them, plans later. They're probably just mad that something they didn't foresee came up, but they'll probably be happy later when they realize that I'm out of their hands for the week.” He attempted to explain, unknowingly pouting as he lingers more on the idea of his parents leaving him in the hands of someone else again. It's typical by now thanks to his memories of his past life, but it still hurts to the boy he is now, someone who still wants to rely on his parents and hasn't steeled himself to face the reality of his situation.

Mitsuru offers a sympathetic smile to him as Akihiko ruffles his hair after hearing him. “Rest assured Narukami, you're more than welcome here.” she returns as the two take a seat at the dining table.

Yu felt a bit better from the gesture, but he looks back to Shinjiro and notices that he's still not looking him in the eye since his questioning. Maybe he'll get some answers later tonight as his first trial day as a SEES member, whatever may entail with that...

-

Mitsuru said they'd be preparing for the week ahead of them, and that included getting Yu Narukami some weaponry and armor protection from their usual source. They mentioned their supplier would seem a bit odd, but Yu's sure Daidara would be an even stranger source for shadow fighting weaponry. Nothing could really top a metalworking shop with an owner eager to work with otherworldly materials, right?

However, there was one issue, and that was Yu's attire. While it was okay to wear in the privacy of the dormitory, it was pretty worn for wear from last night's events. His own luggage from the hotel wouldn't even be brought in until later. The solution, wear the Gekkoukan Academy uniform in the meantime. He'd be able to blend in with most of the population in the area, even if it was Sunday...

Yu had been led into an unoccupied dorm room on the second floor after breakfast. There had been a Gekkoukan uniform folded up and set out for him on the edge of the bed. He wasn't exactly eager to get it on, but he did want to get out of his clothes. Reluctantly, he changed into the uniform, his mind drifting back to memories of the Midnight Channel explorations and the Investigation Team dressing up for the occasion sometimes as he went through the motions. He slipped on the white button-up first, fastening it up all the way. Once that was on, he tied the small ribbon around the collar of the button-up and made it tight. He slipped on the jacket and shorts of the uniform then took a look in the mirror to examine himself, finding he didn't like the uniform with the outer jacket buttoned up, thus he promptly undid the buttons to show off the white button-up and ribbon tie underneath. With that out of the way, he found himself with the uniform completely on and he was officially ready to go out.

He walked over to the door, overhearing a quiet discussion from beyond the door, but paid no mind to it as it was just the SEES members waiting outside for him. Whatever they were discussing should remain with them, even if he's curious after what Shinjiro implied earlier in the day...

“Senpais. I'm coming out now.” He calls out before reaching to twist the door handle open, coming face-to-face with the trio of upperclassmen. Mitsuru is the first to acknowledge him, seemingly proud of how he may look in it.

“Narukami. It suits you. Are you ready to leave?” she asks as Akihiko and Shinjiro are talking among themselves for a bit longer. Akihiko flashes a grin and a thumbs up at him while Shinjiro looks a bit impressed and nods in his direction before walking ahead with Akihiko to wait downstairs.

“I believe so, Mitsuru-senpai. Where exactly are we going?” Yu answered affirmatively, moving to follow behind the redhead as they went downstairs.

“Paulownia Mall to get you equipped for tonight, as well as get you anything you may need for your stay here at the dormitory. The Iwatodai Strip Mall is also nearby as well if you'd like to look around afterwards.” She explains as they meet up with Shinjiro and Akihiko downstairs. The trio of upperclassmen all give a nod as some sort of signal as Mitsuru steps forward to guide the group out of the dorm.

“This way now. We have no time to waste.”

-

**Sunday, February 20 th, 2005**

**Paulownia Mall**

**Iwatodai City**

The first thing Yu noticed about the Paulownia Mall was that it reminded him of the shopping center back in Okina City. From the crane game set up right outside of Game Panic, to the Chagall Cafe, then to the various stores littered around it, it all felt a bit familiar to him. This place would be good to come back to for excursions into the Dark Hour.

From what he guessed, Aohige Pharmacy looked like a place he could buy a variety of items for the Dark Hour like he did back at the Shiroku General Store, while he could see something like Be Blue V being somewhere to buy miscellaneous accessories. He refused to look at Club Escapade, trying to repress the **very clear** memories of the last time he had visited the island with the rest of his team in the old timeline, still flustered by his conduct even if it had been funny at the time. The karaoke bar upstairs looked promising and he could probably see himself going there with Rise and Yosuke if all of them came down to Tatsumi Port Island sometime in the future, but the corridor under it felt like it was calling out to him. Odd. He'd check it out later...

As Yu was admiring the Paulownia Mall, Mitsuru pulled Shinjiro aside to talk to him privately.

“Akihiko.” She states, getting both his and Yu's attention.

“Yeah?”

“Do you mind taking Narukami-kun over to our usual supplier? I need to speak with Shinjiro, privately. Also, Kurosawa will need to gauge what equipment may work best with him.”

Akihiko raises an eyebrow to her when she mentioned speaking to Shinjiro alone, but figures it's best to let them be. “Alright. We'll be back then.” he states before gesturing for the underclassman to follow him ahead. “C'mon Narukami-kun, just follow me.” he calls, walking in the direction towards the police station inside the mall.

Yu looks back briefly over at Shinjiro and Mitsuru, the two waving him off with feigned smiles. All he can do is wonder what's causing their disagreement and if they'll be able to settle it while he and Akihiko are gone as he follows behind Akihiko.

“Coming senpai!”

-

The duo come face-to-face with a stoic police officer, who seems to give Akihiko a questioning look, as if he's asking why there was someone else with him. Akihiko just shrugs it off and walks up to the counter with Yu behind him.

“Afternoon sir. Mitsuru called in earlier to let you know we'd be bringing someone new by, didn't she?” Akihiko asks as he gets a nod in response by the officer, who looks down at Yu.

“She did. Here for the usual?”

“Nice. Yeah...it's not for me though. It's for him.” The teen explains as he looks back to the boy behind him. “Narukami-kun, this is Officer Kurosawa. He has connections and helps keep our team well-equipped. It's not free though, but Mitsuru said she'll be covering anything you decide to get from here today, so find something you can use. Can't fight empty-handed after all.” Akihiko explains as he rests against the counter, letting Yu step up to face Kurosawa.

The officer looks a bit conflicted as he looks at Yu. He feels like he should question him about how he got wrapped up into this, but gives up with a reluctant sigh before giving an explanation to his services. “Listen kid, I'm tasked with maintaining the peace in this city. I know there's something strange going on, but it looks like you've gotten involved now. I don't exactly approve of this, but its only right to make sure you have the right equipment to stay safe, got it? Now, you got anything in mind?”

Yu takes this as his opportunity to speak up. “You wouldn't happen to have any katanas or two handed broadswords here for someone my size, would you?”

The officer shakes his head, but steps away from the counter. “Not exactly...but I have something that could work.” he starts as he's looking into a locker, rustling items inside around until he comes out with a familiar looking weapon. “I'll start you off with an imitation katana to get you used to the weight of it, then we can start getting you into the real thing.” Kurosawa states as he walks back over and places it on the counter for Yu to look over.

The silver-haired child reached out to grab and examine it. While it's still not a real katana, it certainly feels more durable than the toy he had been more or less forced to use prior to meeting SEES, so he couldn't be too mad. It also felt heavier as well, meaning he'd actually have to use two hands to hold it properly. The one thing he was curious to try was to see if he could conduct electricity through it, but he could try it out later. Right now, beggar's couldn't be choosers, and this would fit the bill for now.

“I'll take it.” Yu replies affirmatively with a grin as he sets it back on the counter. “Could I have it back in the sheath if there's for it as well?”

“That'll be 2500 yen, but that'll be under Kirijo's tab. Anything else?”

“Is there any kind of armor Sanada-senpai or the others use? I'll take whatever is the standard for them.”

-

With new gear secured, Yu walked out confidently with Akihiko, only stopping when they notice Mitsuru and Shinjiro in an argument. Seems like their discussion wasn't going to be as short as they anticipated, or Yu just knew exactly what to shop for, so the equipment shopping wasn't going to be as short as Mitsuru intended it to be. Whatever the case, they're left awkwardly watching from the sidelines, a good distance away from Mitsuru's wraith.

“Sheesh. She's ripping into him... Wonder what he said to anger her.” Akihiko mutters quietly, rubbing the back of his head before looking down at his underclassman companion. “Narukami-kun, why don't you go take a look around the mall? I'll hold onto your stuff and let them know you're exploring for a bit if they ask. They're going to take a while...” he suggests nonchalantly, trying to play it off as no big deal.

Yu doesn't think too much of it and hands Akihiko his purchases. “Okay..? I won't be long then. I just wanted to check out a shop or two. Thank you senpai.” he answers before walking off to explore, the teen waving him off.

The first place Yu visited on his own is the Aohige Pharmacy. He had just wanted to peek at the inventory in-stock and so far, they seemed to be cheaper than the prices at Junes, but there was definitely less selection and stock. It wasn't bad. In the end, he ends up leaving the pharmacy with two Goho-M's and a couple of Medicines in order to makeup for the stockpile of items he had lost in his torn backpack. Next, he makes his way over to Be Blue V, hoping to find something useful that could be used in the Dark Hour, however he leaves empty-handed due to the prices being more than he could afford at the moment.

Yu was in the middle of playing a round on the crane game when he felt that pull again, the one he felt when he first arrived at the mall. The sudden jerk to his very core snaps him out of his concentration on the game, losing him the Jack Frost doll in the process. He doesn't even find himself upset about it, and instead tries to focus in on what's calling him.

Gray eyes lock onto the passage under the karaoke bar, and he starts to walk towards it like he's in a trance. He closes his eyes to tune into the familiar aria crying towards his soul, navigating blindly as he weaves through the crowd to get across. Yu soon finds himself in front of a mysterious door, dyed in a deep blue hue, feeling an otherworldly presence beyond it.

However, what strikes him most is its appearance. It's not _**his**_ door. In fact, it doesn't resemble the doorway to the Velvet Room he's used to seeing in the slightest. Instead, it takes on the form of an elevator door shaft, waiting on him to step forth.

He raises a hand towards the strange door.

The door slides open in response, a brilliantly bright light filling the corridor as the faint melody of a piano echos into it. It really **was** the Velvet Room, but what was it doing in Iwatodai City? Did this relate to his journey at all, or rather was it here in preparation for the initial predecessor of the wild card, the one who he's tasked with assisting?

No matter the reason, Yu slips past the light of the entrance, letting the sensations of the Velvet Room engulf around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **I'm back! :D** That was a _much_ , **_MUCH_** longer hiatus than I expected it to be.
> 
> Okay, so... This chapter, still wasn't even meant to come out. Originally, this is just the first part of a much longer chapter! Then, after some chats with my betas, I was encouraged to split apart my larger chapter in order to make around 3 smaller chapters as I get back to things. I probably lost a good amount of readers thanks to the hiatus, but that's okay. 
> 
> I understand, it was like I jumped off the face of the Earth, ~~and you wouldn't be wrong~~. Author Phoenix went through some shit. First, I passed the finals that originally kickstarted the hiatus and ya girl is a college graduate with a B.A in Communication Media! Then, the holidays hit and I had to focus on family. In January, I began job-hunting because this pandemic is hurting. While I played the waiting game of job offers to come in after interviews, my mom got COVID-19 from her job as a elementary teacher, then unintentionally spread it to all of us in the house. That downed me for over 3-4 weeks, which was just enough to get a response back at one of the places I applied to! Now, I'm working as a Preschool Teacher Assistant~! So yeah, a lot happened, but I'm back!
> 
> **Chapter 11 will be released next weekend! Once again, thank you to both of my amazing betas for putting up with me and my nonsense, and to you loyal readers who came back after I was on hiatus for so long!** I hope you'll continue to enjoy my works, and please let me know what you guys think with reviews and kudos!
> 
> ~Til next chapter everyone, Phoe out~


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